he Sunday-Night Service 



WILBUR FLETCHER SHERIDAN 












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Class JtiV- 3^1 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



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THE 

SUNDAY-NIGHT SERVICE 



A Study in 
Continuous Evangelism 



BY 

WILBUR FLETCHER SHERIDAN 



CINCINNATI: JENNINGS AND PYE 
NEW YORK: EATON AND MAINS 



C c '1° ^J 






THE LIBRARY OF 
CON G R ESS, 

1 wo Copies Received 

SEP 14 1903 

Copynght Entry 

CLASS CL XXc No 

COPY B. 



Copyright, 1908, by 
Jennings and Pye 



BeMcation 



TO THOSE WHOSE MINDS ARE OPEN TO THE 

METHODS AND MESSAGE OP THE NEW 

AGE, WHILE CHERISHING THE 

SPIRIT AND POWER OP THE OLD. 



FOREWORD. 

The late Bishop Mnde said, and he empha- 
sized the thought more than once: "If I were 
young again I would strive to be — not in the 
low, vulgar, selfish sense, but in the high, self- 
forgetful sense — a popular preacher. I would 
toil for this as I would toil for virtue itself. If 
graces of speech would make me such, I would 
cultivate these. If youthful enthusiasm would 
draw men to me, I would keep my heart fresh 
and young for a hundred years. If going among 
the people would help me, I would fling aside all 
conventionalities and reclusive habits, and go 
from shop to shop and from tenement to tene- 
ment until my soul was saturated with the 
thoughts and feelings of lowly men. If a new 
baptism of power were needed, I would plead 
for that until I received the fresh anointing. 
I would exhaust all possibilities that I might 
5 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

win the scattered, listless multitudes to listen 
to the gospel I was ordained to preach." 

It is for the average preachers who cherish 
a like ambition that this little volume is es- 
pecially intended. It is a study of conditions, 
methods, personality, and the re-enforcement 
of personality. 

In his fifteen years' experience as a pastor, 
the author has served almost every kind 
of a charge, — country schoolhouse, city mission, 
county seat, and the large church of the large 
city. He has met the problems peculiar to each 
type, and the suggestions made are in chief 
part the outgrowth of the mistakes and suc- 
cesses of this varied experience. He has also 
studied the methods of our most successful men 
in this country and England, spending some 
time in London and Manchester, looking espe- 
cially into the methods employed by leaders 
of the Forward Movement in those cities. 

He is firmly of the opinion that, so far from 
being permanently alienated from the Church, 
the non-church-going multitudes "belong," as 
6 



Foreword, 

Hugh Price Hughes put it, "to any Church 
that has the Scriptural audacity and the sancti- 
fied common sense to go for them." 

If this hook shall aid in reviving the stra- 
tegic resourcefulness and the aggressive evan- 
gelism of early Methodism, it will have ful- 
filled its author's highest hope and deepest 
prayer. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter Page 

Foreword, -------5 

I. The Case Stated, 13 

II. Shall the Sunday-Night Service be 

Abandoned? ------ 19 

III. How Shall We Draw the People ? - 31 

IV. Seizing Strategic Opportunities, 45 
V. A Symposium on Sermon Series, - - 56 

VI. Some Successful Sermon Series, - -72 

VII. A Plan that Reached Men, - 95 

VIII. Holding the People, ----- 102 

IX. The Social Ministry op the Church, - 114 

X. Special Features for the Down-town 

Church, 123 

XI. Continuous Evangelism, - 131 

XII. A Recent Quarter op Continuous 

Evangelism, ------ 143 

XIII. The Direct Appeal, - 148 

9 



Contents 

Chapter Page 

XIV. Casting the Net, ----- 155 

XV. The Personal Touch, - - - - 164 

XVI. Must the Preacher Lose His Soul- 
winning Power with Age ? - - - 180 

XVII. The Re-enforcement op Personality 
Through Companionship op Books 
and Men, ------ 191 

XVIII. Re-enforcement op Personality 

Through the Holy Spirit, - - - 201 

XIX. Davidic Methodism Versus Solomonic 

Methodism, -----, 218 

XX. The Renaissance op Methodism, . 232 



10 



THE SUNDAY-NIGHT SERVICE 



Chapter I. 
THE CASE STATED. 

It was a prominent Michigan pastor who 
was accustomed facetiously to refer to his Sun- 
day evening array of empty benches as his 
"woodyard." His Church was a type of many 
to-day — an intelligent, well-to-do membership, 
homes comfortable and attractive, social ties 
strong and social engagements numerous ; hence 
on Sunday evenings the full parlors and the 
empty church-pews. 

The time was when the people called Meth- 
odists had no Sunday-night problem. The en- 
tire Sabbath's work had its climax then. In- 
deed, that was the strategic opportunity of the 
whole week. An aggressive pulpit with a novel 
message, backed by an aggressive pew with a 
novel enthusiasm for humanity, made inroads 
on the world and won converts by scores and 
13 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

hundreds. Non-church members attended in 
large numbers, partly out of interest in the novel 
message, and partly through curiosity to see 
what would happen next. And Methodism grew 
by leaps and bounds. 

But conditions have changed. A more for- 
mal style of worship has supplanted the old 
evangelical type. It has effected the aesthetic 
and ritualistic enrichment of the morning serv- 
ice. Its dignity and educational value have 
been increased. That service has become so 
popular in some places that it approximates the 
character of a social function. But the peo- 
ple who crowd the morning service do not feel 
called to appear at night. They are what Mr. 
Gladstone, in discussing this subject, humor- 
ously called "oncesters." Only the loyal few 
get out to the evening service also, in many of 
our Churches. 

The result is the decline of the Sunday- 
evening service; for, when the leading people, 
socially and financially, drop out, their exam- 
ple is followed by many others, and by none 
14 



The Case Stated. 

more quickly than the "outsiders." The public 
is sensitive to unpopularity. It scents it from 
afar, as a deer scents danger. And there is noth- 
ing the public is so much afraid of as a thing 
that is struggling for life. Nine out of ten 
men do not act independently. They will not 
put their names to a subscription paper until 
they see who else has signed it. There is either 
a good deal of sheep nature about men, or a good 
deal of human nature about sheep. They fol- 
low the bellwether. Nothing draws a crowd 
like a crowd, and nothing scares men like an 
empty room. 

It is also true that like follows like. If only 
the humbler class of Church people attend the 
night service, it is only the humbler class of 
outsiders who will be attracted. While if the 
more influential people of the Church attend, 
people of their own class will be drawn thither. 

It would not be a fair statement of the case 
were we to fail to recognize the keener com- 
petition that the Church has to meet in our 
generation as compared with the earlier genera- 
15 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

tions of Methodists. Then, there was little 
to go to except the Church. RTow, the Sunday 
theater, the Sunday concert, the Sunday excur- 
sion, and the Sunday newspaper come into the 
most active competition with the Church. Busi- 
ness life, too, is so intense to-day as to leave 
many men fagged in body and mind at the 
week's close; while the original American Sab- 
bath ideal, so favorable to securing a hearing 
for the gospel message, has been completely 
buried beneath an avalanche of twenty million 
immigrants from Continental Europe in the 
past fifty years — even as the civilization of 
Southern Europe was buried in the fifth and 
sixth centuries beneath the avalanche of barba- 
rians from the north of Europe. Many of these 
immigrants have been Church members; but 
they have been trained in Churches that either 
have no Sunday-night service, or that place on 
it but a scant emphasis. And the attitude of 
these Churches has affected us more than many 
think. 

Then we must take into consideration 
16 



The Case Stated. 

that the message of Methodism is no longer 
novel. The people are familiar with it. Other 
Churches than our own are proclaiming it, with 
some modifications. Hence a novel message no 
longer exists as a magnet. 

Along with this there has been a decline in 
aggressiveness. Things do not often "happen" 
at the Sunday-night service. People are not 
there weeping on account of their sins, or bowing 
at the "mourners'-bench" as seekers of salvation. 
Our Methodist services have assumed the same 
eminent respectability that characterizes the 
services of our sister denominations. Any one 
can forecast the character of any service. There 
will be several hymns, an anthem or two, a 
prayer, a Scripture lesson, an address of more 
or less merit on a moral or religious theme, a 
benediction, social greetings between friends, 
and the dispersion of the people for their sev- 
eral homes. All of this is very proper and very 
pleasant, and has its modicum of value. But 
it is not a powerful magnet for the indifferent 
multitudes, and it is not what made Methodism 
2 17 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

mighty in its first hundred years. People are 
profoundly interested at bottom in the moral and 
spiritual struggles of their fellows. And noth- 
ing will draw men to a church like the knowledge 
that such moral struggles and transformations 
are taking place from Sunday night to Sunday 
night. 

From all these causes — the decline of ag- 
gressiveness, the more formal type of worship, 
the rise and rapid multiplication of places of 
Sunday amusement, the strangling of the Amer- 
ican Sabbath ideal, and the increased intensity 
of our business and social life — has come the 
decline of the Sunday-night service. 



18 



Chapter II. 

SHALL THE SUNDAY-NIGHT SERVICE 
BE ABANDONED? 

Hundreds of Churches in our sister denomi- 
nations have answered "Yes," and those 
churches stand, great piles of brick and stone, 
gloomy and deserted, while the waves of a hu- 
man sea beat about their base. The Episcopal 
Churches, as a rule, have no Sunday-night serv- 
ice. Out of five hundred and twenty-three Con- 
gregational Churches tabulated by Margaret 
Lawrence in "Parish Problems" (page 421), 
four hundred and fifty had abandoned the night 
service. Hundreds of Churches of other de- 
nominations have done the same, including an 
occasional Methodist Church. No doubt en- 
tirely satisfying arguments have been presented 
by their leaders in taking this step. Their 
course has been justified to their own conscience. 
But there are some perverse saints in those con- 
19 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

gregations who think they read through their 
tears "Ichabod" written over the doors. Other 
Churches have shifted the night service to the 
afternoon, while still others have relegated it 
to the basement or chapel, permitting it "to 
struggle under the incubus of being a second- 
rate affair." 

Those who abandon the Sunday-night serv- 
ice advance two or three arguments in support 
of their action. Some say that it is too much 
to expect a minister to prepare two discourses 
a week for the same audience; that it results 
in two poor discourses when he might have 
made one good one. Others object to a night 
service on the ground that the pressure of busi- 
ness life is such that Sunday evening is the 
only time men have for their families, and 
that they owe to their homes their presence 
on that night. 

The first of these objections would be valid 

if the output of the preacher is to be viewed 

simply as literature. If his function is that 

of a lecturer only, it is probable that his public 

20 



Shall the Sunday-Night Service be Abandoned? 

efforts would better be confined to monthly ap- 
pearances, rather than weekly. But his func- 
tion is not that of the litterateur or lecturer, 
but a much more vital one. He is a soul-phy- 
sician. He is a minister to the constant needs 
of the human heart and conscience. And if 
he be a man whose relation to the Source of 
spiritual life and power is vital, he will have 
two messages a week for needy men. If his 
service be anything more than perfunctory, he 
will not lack material for two appeals a week 
to immortal souls. If John Wesley could preach 
two sermons a day for half a century, should 
not his successors be able to preach two a week ? 
As for the objection that men owe Sunday 
nights to their families, we have simply to say 
that men owe something to Jesus Christ also, 
and to humanity for Jesus Christ's sake. Are 
there not one hundred and sixty-eight hours in 
the week ? And may only one of these be given 
to the salvation of a lost world ? Such dilettante 
Christianity will never raise a dike against the 
encroaching seas of vice, nor advance its skir- 
21 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

mish-line a mile into the enemy's country. A 
man does indeed owe something to his family; 
very much more than many men are giving. 
But let him not rob God to pay it. Let him 
rather subtract an evening or two in the week 
from his lodge and club engagements. If a man 
honestly finds himself overtaxed with Church 
work, let him consider very carefully before 
cutting out the Sunday-night service, lest he 
sever the one line of communication between 
himself as a Christian worker and the mass 
of unconverted men. 

The fact is that the Sunday-night service is 
the one service of the week that irreligious men 
are inclined to attend, especially laboring men. 
Sunday morning they are tired. They do not 
care to shave and dress for church. They want 
to lie around, and rest, and read, and talk. But 
by evening they are sated with mere idleness, 
and are ready to sally forth in search of some- 
thing that will interest and employ their minds. 
If they have been religiously reared, they are 
sure to seek some church. If that church is 
22 



Shall the Sunday-Night Service be Abandoned? 

closed and barred, it only serves to increase their 
indifference to religion. If the Church has only 
a corporal's guard scattered about where a regi- 
ment ought to be, these outsiders will dodge 
it as they would a blow, and they will pass on 
to the Sunday theater or concert or beer-garden. 
Had there been a congregation of earnest, cor- 
dial Christian people in the church, busy about 
their Master's business, these non-Church mem- 
bers would have immediately felt the magnetic 
influence and warm glow of life, and would have 
tarried, and would have found their way thither 
again and again. But because two-thirds of 
that congregation were at their homes, in gown 
and slippers, taking their ease at their fire- 
side, or entertaining their friends with rag- 
time music in the parlor, they drove away by 
their indifference the men and women over 
whom Jesus Christ was yearning with an in- 
finite longing. 

A preacher is a fisher of men. But the 
fisher needs a net. And the preacher's net is 
his Church, which throws its invisible meshes 
23 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

of cordiality and sympathy and Christian love 
about unsaved men, and draws them into the 
kingdom of God. But if that net is all rents, 
the fish will all get away. And every absentee 
member is a rent in the net. 

If the Church's whole duty is fulfilled in 
the instruction of the children and youth and 
the building up of the adults who compose its 
membership, then the Sunday-night service may 
be treated as a superfluity. And there are de- 
nominations of Christians which take this view 
of their obligation. But if the Church has a 
mission to, and a mission for, the unsaved mul- 
titudes of adults, then the Sunday-night service 
is an absolute necessity to the successful ful- 
fillment of that mission. 

Professor Max Miiller, in his delightful 
reminiscences of literary men in "Auld Lang 
Syne," telle the story of a brother of Balph 
Waldo Emerson who had been completing his 
training for the Unitarian ministry in Ger- 
many. On his way home his ship was over- 
taken by a terrific storm. In his fear, young 
24 



Shall the Sunday-Night Service be Abandoned? 

Emerson promised God that if he would only let 
him live, he would "give up the ministry and 
go to work to earn an honest living." This vow 
he faithfully kept. With his message, that was 
exactly the thing for him to do. It is the con- 
sistent thing for every preacher who has no 
saving message. And it is the consistent thing 
for every Church to close its doors on Sunday 
nights if it has no saving message for the un- 
churched multitudes. 

But with the Methodist Episcopal Church 
this is not true. Our peculiar depositum has 
been a message of compelling power for men 
who were the slaves of sin. While holding that 
the ideal Christian is he who grows up from 
childhood in Christ, yet we have insisted that 
God would make all things new for the man 
who had neglected Christ in childhood and 
youth. To turn from this message now, and 
confine ourselves to a purely didactic, child-train- 
ing ministry, would be to be untrue to our own 
traditions and to the spirit and practice of 
apostolic Christianity. 

25 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

The Eev. E. J. Campbell, successor of 
Dr. Joseph Parker, recently said that the most 
humiliating hour in his ministry was when he 
awoke to the fact that he was unable to meet 
the moral needs of a struggling soul. And it 
is, or ought to be, a time of the deepest hu- 
miliation to any Church that finds itself un- 
able to meet the moral needs of the multitudes 
who are round about it, when "the children are 
come to the birth, and there is not strength 
enough to deliver." However stately and splen- 
did the ritual of such a Church, however sooth- 
ing its music and fragrant the rosewater with 
which it sprays the consciences of its worship- 
ers, and however profound its pity or contempt 
for the "sects" and their "irregular" methods 
of soul-winning, preferring that men should be 
"regularly" lost rather than "irregularly" saved, 
such a Church has lost the one distinct quality 
which entitles it to be called Christian — its re- 
deeming mission. For no Church is really 
Christian which is not a redemptive force, 
which does not buy back lost men from their 
26 



Shall the Sunday-Night Service he Abandoned? 

captivity to sin. Such a Church, without know- 
ing it, has reverted to the old Jewish type, as 
all Christian Churches throughout the centuries 
have shown a tendency to do, save as they have 
held constantly before themselves the original 
ideal of Christianity as a religion of redemp- 
tion. Hence it is that in hundred of Churches, 

" The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed ; 

But swoll'n with wind and the rank mist they draw, 
Eot inwardly and foul contagion spread." 

We do not contend that the Sunday-night 
service is the only means of increase to the 
Church. The Sunday-school is a great and im- 
portant feeder also. We do contend that the 
Sunday-night service is one of the two great 
sources of increase. The non-revivalistic 
Churches and the ritualistic Churches add to 
their membership almost wholly through the 
Sunday-school and the training-classes for chil- 
dren. But while Methodism may well emulate 
the care and zeal of these Churches in training 
the children, yet we are called also by our doc- 
trines, our traditions, and our ministerial vows 
27 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

to the more heroic work of facing mature men in 
their sins and worldliness, and calling them to 
repentance and holiness. 

"We are most powerful when we are most 
ourselves," said Dr. Joseph Parker, in his last 
address. "All aping is weakness." And the 
mission of Methodism is an aggressive evangel- 
ism, to "spread Scriptural holiness over these 
lands." And if it be true, as Dr. Parker de- 
clared shortly before his death, that "the future 
of Protestantism belongs to the Methodists," it 
will be because we shall be loyal to our commis- 
sion; we shall hold steadily to the ideals and 
methods of an aggressive evangelism. The suc- 
cess of Collier and his co-laborers in Manchester, 
with six thousand members now where seventeen 
years ago there were only sixty, and the remark- 
able work of Hugh Price Hughes and his asso- 
ciates in West London, show that the re-empha- 
sizing of the fundamental things for which 
Methodism stands in the Sunday-night service 
all the year round produces the same blessed re- 



28 



Shall the Sunday-Night Service be Abandoned? 

suits that it did under the preaching of the first 
and second generation of Methodists. 

The slurring over of the Sunday-night serv- 
ice in our American Churches is a symptom 
of a deeper disease ; namely, indifference to the 
salvation of the multitudes. We preachers 
spend a disproportionate amount of our time 
and energies on the Church membership. We 
preach to saints too much, and to sinners too 
little. We spend too much of our afternoons 
in the homes, and not enough in the factories 
and shops and stores. Too much time is spent 
in "coddling the saints." Hugh Price Hughes 
well says: "The Church was founded, not to 
protect sickly, hothouse Christians from a breath 
of fresh air, but to evangelize the human race. 
It is an army to conquer the world and the 
devil, not an ambulance corps to carry about 
lazy Christians who ought to walk on their own 
feet." 

There is a law of proportion to be followed 
in a well-balanced ministry. It is not neces- 



29 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

sary that every sermon should be directly evan- 
gelistic, or close with an exhortation. But we 
insist that a ministry that consists simply in 
teaching, in "sowing the seed/' as so many 
brethren are fond of saying, without any expec- 
tation that that seed is going to spring up this 
side of the millennium, is abnormal, and ill- 
balanced, and unscriptural. And a ministry 
that consists in presenting again and again the 
evidences of Christianity to people, the vast 
majority of whom never doubted them, but who 
do profoundly need to be aroused to act up to 
what they do believe, is an abnormal and un- 
balanced ministry. And the pastor who sees 
no souls converted under his preaching week 
after week and month after month, may well 
consider whether he has not forfeited his call 
to preach the gospel. 



30 



Chapter III.? 
HOW SHALL WE DRAW THE PEOPLE? 

The answer so often given in Preachers' 
Meetings — "By preaching the simple gospel" — 
is not true, even though, in the sympathetic at- 
mosphere of the hour, it calls forth a chorus of 
"Amens." There are thousands of men preach- 
ing a pure and simple gospel to empty benches. 
There are merchants whose goods are lying un- 
turned on their shelves while their neighbors' 
stores are crowded with customers. What makes 
the difference ? It is the difference in men and 
in methods. 

It is not the plan of this book to discuss 
differences of personality. "Can a man by tak- 
ing thought add a cubit to his stature?" We 
can not, in the very nature of things, all be 
Simpsons or Beechers or Phillips Brookses. 
But this book will discuss the re-enforcement of 
31 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

personality and those methods which the men 
without genius, save "the capacity for taking 
infinite pains/' can use to compel a fruitful min- 
istry. 

Here and there a pulpit star blazes forth, 
who fills his church by the brilliancy of his 
preaching powers. But his name is not legion. 
Church committees by the score are searching 
for him with the telescope and magnifying glass. 
Whole Conferences have to get along without 
him. And the world is not to be saved by his 
kind. To wait for him is to foreordain failure. 
William Arthur has wisely pointed out that the 
world must be brought to Christ, not by enlist- 
ing the services of extraordinary men, but by 
endowing ordinary men with extraordinary 
power. And the Holy Ghost has always shown 
himself willing to use plans and methods. 
Therefore the important thing is to secure that 
re-enforcement of personality plus those methods 
which the average man can use. 

The re-enforcement of personality is so im- 
portant a matter as to demand treatment in a 
32 



How Shall We Draw the People? 

separate chapter. The present chapter will deal 
with methods. 

The successful merchant not only has good 
goods, but he advertises. He keeps his busi- 
ness before the public eye. He thinks about 
how to do it. He plans new ways of doing 
things. He watches keenly the public pulse. 
He takes and reads — yea, studies — periodicals 
that discuss the various phases of his line of 
business. 

Jesus said that the children of this world 
were wiser than the children of light. We 
think, because we have a good thing, people will 
be bound to recognize it at once. But they do 
not. 

" Seven cities warred for Homer being dead, 
"Who, living, had no roof to shroud his head." 

Many a bishop has had his hand shaken until 
sore by people who would not go around the 
corner to hear him preach when he was a pas- 
tor. Men are not expert in detecting contem- 
porary greatness. So the only way to make 
them understand that something good is going 
3 33 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

on is to tell them about it, and to tell them about 
it in such an interesting and fresh way that 
they can not forget it. This the business men 
of the land have discovered, and they may teach 
us ministers many things we need to know. We 
can learn from the advertising men of any large 
business house how to keep Christ's work be- 
fore the public eye. We may learn from the 
great insurance companies how to reach indi- 
vidual men. We can learn from the political 
parties how to make a systematic house-to-house 
or factory-to-factory or farm-to-farm canvass. 

The Church that succeeds uses printer's ink. 
It utilizes the local press. The wise pastor cul- 
tivates friendly relations with the local news- 
paper men for Christ's sake. He does not cul- 
tivate them for his own sake — the wise pastor 
does not ; for no set of men are keener judges of 
human nature or more utterly despise the man 
who seeks personal "puffs." Many a preacher 
has lost all influence with the press by that folly. 
Newspaper men know the difference between 



34 



How Shall We Draw the People? 

"puff"-seeking and an honest, earnest effort to 
promote the kingdom. 

How does a minister cultivate friendly re- 
lations? By giving them news — fresh, inter- 
esting news — whenever possible. By sending 
them accounts of any national matters pertain- 
ing to his denomination which have not ap- 
peared in the local press. By showing courtesy 
to the representatives of the press when they 
attend services with which he is connected. 
By brief, very brief, calls occasionally at the 
newspaper office. These are all legitimate 
methods, and when pursued with tact and the 
the same Christian courtesy shown in all other 
relations of life, will not fail to bring kind and 
cordial treatment from the press, such as will be 
of great value to the Church and its work. 

We have known of preachers employing 
evangelists, and not sending a line to the local 
press concerning them or concerning the meet- 
ings. We have known them to send to a great 
distance for a speaker for a special occasion, and 



35 



The Sunday-Night Service, 

not inform the public through the press either 
as to the occasion or the speaker. It is a viola- 
tion of all common sense, and is unfair to the 
speakers who have taken the pains to come, 
while still more is it neglect to fulfill one's duty 
to the kingdom of Christ. 

The late Hugh Price Hughes is quoted by 
David Williamson, editor of the Examiner, as 
saying: "We Free Churchmen are only grad- 
ually awakening to the value of the press. The 
Eoman Catholic Church, with its usual astute- 
ness, has set itself to train journalists, and so 
has the Salvation Army. We shall have to do 
the same, for the newspaper can help the Church 
marvelously." Any one who followed the career 
of Mr. Hughes knows that one of the secrets of 
his remarkable success was the pains he took 
to utilize the press in spreading information 
about his work, as well as in disseminating the 
opinions for which he so strenuously stood. 
And the press made him the best-known preacher 
to the man on the street in all England, thereby 
doubling his influence. 

36 



How Shall We Draw the People? 

The whole subject of advertising the 
Church has been so well put by Mr. John A. 
Patten, of Chattanooga, Tenn., in his Epworth 
League pamphlet on the subject that we can 
not do better than to quote at length : 

"Advertising does not create a demand, so 
much as it tells how to supply an existing de- 
mand. There is an almost universal desire to 
have what the Church stands for. Not every 
one recognizes or admits it, but the desire is 
there. Men want to be better. They want the 
sympathy of good people. The right publicity 
for religious work reminds the people that the 
Church is the place to go for what they want. 
To attract their attention, the Church should 
appeal to them through the mediums that are 
familiar. 

"Expert advertising will not sell poor goods ; 
neither will the most discriminating publicity 
do much for a Church that is not active and 
progressive. !N"o advertising will take the place 
of the real spiritual life which the Church 
should have and the spiritual work which a 
37 



The Sunday-Night Service, 

Church ought to do. But the usefulness of 
nearly every working Church could be increased 
by judicious publicity. The success of Mr. 
Moody's work and the Young Men's Christian 
Association movement demonstrates the power 
of the press as a co-operative religious agency. 
The newspaper is the most effective medium to 
reach the people. There are few intelligent 
American homes to which it does not go. Its 
influence on the thought and lives of the people 
is beyond estimate. ~No minister has an audi- 
ence equal to that of any reputable newspaper 
published in his town. And many people esti- 
mate the Church as a religious and social force 
very largely by what the newspapers say about 
it. The newspaper can undoubtedly contribute 
very much to the success of the Church. A 
journalist of experience said to me: 'News- 
papers always want bright, accurate, fresh re- 
ligious news — not a repetition of stale facts, 
nor individual opinions, nor colored or inflated 
matter written for personal ends, but good, up- 
to-date news. And they are more pleased to 
38 



How Shall We Draw the People? 

chronicle kindly actions, noble deeds, and high 
sentiments than they are to record crime and 
sensation.' 

"Cultivate the newspapers. Help them ob- 
tain information about your work. Show them 
that you appreciate it when they do give the 
Church proper recognition. Give them credit 
for good intentions if they do not always say 
just what you might wish them to say. Cour- 
teously invite them to be present when anything 
of special importance occurs at your church. 
Give them every facility intelligently to chron- 
icle what is happening. Usually, however, you 
will have to furnish them the news yourself. 
When you do that, write it out carefully. The 
newspaper man often has neither the time nor 
the information to do it. Much care and tact 
are necessary to prepare a satisfactory news- 
paper article. Many well-educated people seem 
utterly unable to prepare ten readable lines for 
publication. It is necessary to remember that 
you are writing from the standpoint of an im- 
partial newspaper, and that the newspaper style 
39 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

of terse statement must be followed. ~No paper 
will print, nor intelligent constituency read, dry, 
stereotyped platitudes. Look at your paper and 
you will notice a strong, 'catchy' sentence or 
two of introduction to nearly every article. 
Then should follow bright, accurate, definite 
statements of what was or is to be said or done. 
"Consideration should always be shown 
newspapers in asking for favors. There are 
items about the work of an active Church every 
week that would be interesting ; but where news- 
papers are crowded for space they can not al- 
ways use them so often. Where you really 
have something to tell, however, and prepare 
the item attractively, it will nearly always be 
printed. Many city papers are glad to have at 
least a synopsis of Sunday sermons for the 
Monday issue. That gives a preacher a wider 
hearing than he could otherwise have, and it 
is helpful to the work. But the abstract should 
be carefully prepared. Perhaps ^.ve hundred 
heard the sermon, and ten thousand will read the 
paper. 

40 



How Shall We Draw the People? 

"All services to which the public are invited 
should be announced in the newspapers. Nearly 
all papers have a column in which the regular 
Sunday services are announced free. If charge 
is made for it, that should not interfere with 
putting it in. A reasonable advertising appro- 
priation is a legitimate item of current expense. 
Make your announcements plain, giving all 
needed information. These announcements are 
understood as coming directly from the 
Churches, and should always be dignified and 
accurate. Much can be gained by briefly an- 
nouncing a special Sunday service in the news- 
papers about the middle of the preceding week. 

"Blackboards can be used with good effect 
in making announcements. Made of wood or 
the prepared cloth, they can be obtained 
cheaply; and, displayed in the church vestry, 
near the entrance, or at any other conspicuous 
place, they will certainly secure attention. The 
lettering on the blackboard should be always 
neat and plain." 

Many varieties of cards, invitations, etc., 
41 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

can be used to advantage, also. Most of our 
successful pastors in the cities use these freely, 
as a glance at the chapter on Sermon Series will 
show. Some pastors call an informal meeting 
of the men of the Church, and place in their 
hands the work of the distribution of these in- 
vitation-cards. Others have the cards arranged 
in packages of twenty-five, fifty, a hundred, and 
two hundred, and ask the members of the con- 
gregation generally to take them at the close 
of the service in such quantities as they can 
dispose of. It has been demonstrated that this 
not only secures the attention of the outside pub- 
lic to the sermons announced, but it enlists more 
heartily the interest and co-operation of the 
Church members who have been engaged in the 
work of advertising. And every pastor knows 
that the more of his people he can get into any 
kind of service for the Church, even as modest 
as the foregoing, the better it is for them and 
for the Church. 

Very much of the interest in sermon an- 
nouncements will depend upon the caption em- 
42 



How Shall We Draw the People? 

ployed. For instance, "How the Inner Light 
Failed" attracted much more attention to Dr. 
Newell Hillis's sermon on Samson than if he had 
advertised it as "The Backslider" or "How Sam- 
son Fell from Grace." Dr. B. L. McElroy's 
announcement of the subject "Life's Sunset at 
Midday" brought a larger hearing than if he 
had announced the subject of "The Crucifixion." 
Of course, the matter of striking announcements 
can be overdone and degenerate into cheap sen- 
sationalism, but it is, nevertheless, true that the 
man who is going to get the largest hearing to- 
day and do the most good, is the man who can 
put old truths in a new, fresh, and inviting form. 
We have seen announcements of subjects that 
were not worth the paper they were printed on, 
so baldly didactic and commonplace was the 
putting of them. 

The advertising matter should be of good 
material. Cheap goods and slovenly printing 
will do more harm than good. "Use good paper 
stock, and patronize a printer who will give 
you good type display and presswork. Use 
43 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

plain, neat type-faces instead of gorgeous or 
fancy effects. Get only such quantities of any 
kind of literature as you can certainly use, and 
have that so attractive that it will be kept." 

In cities and large towns it is well to have 
a committee whose business it is to visit the 
hotels on Saturday evening and leave a courte- 
ously-worded printed invitation to attend the 
services. A stock of these invitations can be 
kept on hand, so that the only work of the com- 
mittee will be to secure the names of the guests 
from the register, place the cards in the envel- 
opes, and properly address them. There are 
very few hotel clerks who will not willingly 
place these invitations in the "pigeon-holes" of 
the various guests. Opposite is a sample of the 
card used for this purpose by the Trinity Church 
of Louisville, Ky. 



44 



Chaptee IV. 

SEIZING STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES. 

The alert preacher makes much of strategic 
opportunities. He is not careless of proprieties, 
but lie is not afraid of doing things differently 
from his neighbors. He avoids ruts. He uses 
common-sense methods to meet the exigencies 
that arise from time to time. For instance, he 
takes advantage of an aroused public interest 
in any subject to teach moral and spiritual les- 
sons from it. The Mount Pelee disaster fur- 
nishes him an opportunity to discuss the "De- 
struction of Sodom" and its lessons. The Gal- 
veston storm affords a striking illustration for a 
sermon on "Building on the Sands." A student 
murder in an evil resort gives him his text for 
a sermon on "The Temptations of Students." 
The proximity of election-day gives him his 
chance to draw lessons from Absalom's career 
45 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

under the caption of "The Fall of a 'Swift' 
Politician." 

"Sensational!" some one remarks. Not a 
bit of it. Simply common sense — taking ad- 
vantage of an aroused public interest to drive 
home the truths of the gospel. It was Christ's 
method. When some told him of the Galileans 
whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacri- 
fices, Jesus declared, "Except ye repent, ye 
shall all likewise perish." When he saw the 
sower on the hillside, he used him as a text for 
a sermon on the varying soils and harvests of 
his spiritual seed. When they called his atten- 
tion to the man born blind, Jesus used him as 
a text to enforce a great spiritual truth. The 
Pharisees choosing chief seats at a feast gave 
him his text for a sermon on pride, and the 
little child set in the midst, his text for a ser- 
mon on humility and faith. 

Theatrical managers well understand the 

value of an aroused public interest, and they 

hasten to put a striking event, or a new story 

which has awakened general interest, into dra- 

46 



Seizing Strategic Opportunities. 

matic form, and on the boards, while the people 
and the papers are still talking about it. The 
newspapers have already advertised it. The 
public is prepared for it. The Church ought 
to be just as wise as the theater, and ought to 
seize these strategic opportunities to drive home 
God's message. If it be urged that people who 
come out of curiosity to hear an unusual theme 
will not be helped to a better life, we reply that 
that depends on the preacher. If he has a real 
message, the people who come from curiosity 
will be helped. At the close of the "current- 
event" sermon mentioned above on "The Fall 
of a 'Swift' Politician," four men and women 
came to the altar of prayer. At the close of the 
sermon on "The Temptations of Students," seven 
young men came forward as seekers of Christ. 
A great number of similar illustrations is at 
hand to show that the gospel does not lose its 
power to save simply because it is made 
interesting. 

That Michigan preacher made use of a stra- 
tegic opportunity when he noticed the circus com- 
47 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

ing into town on Sunday morning as he went 
to church, and announced to his congregation 
a service for the afternoon on the circus grounds. 
He knew there would be a crowd of people wan- 
dering about those grounds, watching the un- 
loading and erection of tents, and that he would 
have an opportunity of reaching people there 
who never darkened the door of his church. Nor 
was he disappointed, as the outcome showed. A 
large audience greeted him and his band of 
workers, a respectful hearing was given to his 
message and the testimony of the earnest Chris- 
tian men who aided him, and several persons 
asked for prayer at the close ; while some of the 
showmen said it was the first time they had 
heard the gospel preached in years. 

Our English Wesleyan brethren are in ad- 
vance of us in their use of these strategic oppor- 
tunities. They preach more in the open air. They 
follow the crowds wherever there is an oppor- 
tunity to get at them with a gospel service. 
Many such services are held at the race-tracks 
and on other amusement fields. And many are 
48 



Seizing Strategic Opportunities. 

the trophies they have won for the Master by 
these methods. 

The writer confesses that he never ap- 
proached an open-air service without dread. 
They have never ceased to be painful, and even 
humiliating, at the start, although they are a 
good deal like a cold bath in the lake: when 
the plunge has been taken, the feeling of dread 
gives way to a sense of exhilaration. It was 
Christ's method. He went where men were. 
He sat down with publicans and sinners. He 
scandalized the good people of his day by turn- 
ing up in the most unexpected company — not 
for the sake of doing odd things and being pe- 
culiar, but for the sake of saving men. It ap- 
pears to the writer that the Church's attitude 
is too much one of aloofness, rather than of 
sympathy. Not that the Church does not feel 
the sympathy and does not want the people ; but 
that it is too much afraid of coming in contact 
with these people on their own ground. And, 
without meaning it, its attitude toward sinful 
men resembles that of the Pharisees and scribes 
4 49 



The Sunday -Night Service, 

more than that of the Master. We confine our- 
selves too exclusively to the church buildings 
for religious services. We are too afraid of 
doing something unconventional — something for 
which we will be criticised by eminently respect- 
able people. There is probably nothing that 
would so humiliate the average preacher or his 
congregation as to have it said that his methods 
resembled those of the Salvation Army. The 
methods suggested are not Salvation Army 
methods. The Army is an English institution 
and fits into conditions there much better than 
in America. But a preacher is cowardly if he 
is afraid to use methods that John Wesley and 
his co-laborers used with mighty success long 
before the Salvation Army was ever born, and 
that Jesus Christ used and set his seal on, simply 
because he is afraid of being classed with the 
Salvation Army type of Christian workers. But 
if it be that he will be thus sneered at, yet must 
we make it our chief business to seek out men 
wherever they congregate, and lead them to 



50 



Seizing Strategic Opportunities. 

Christ, and in this way "go forth unto Him 
without the camp, bearing His reproach." 

When Hugh Price Hughes was pastor he as- 
tonished his highly respectable and staid con- 
gregation one day by announcing that on the 
following Sunday there would be no service in 
the church, except a very brief one in the morn- 
ing, but that the services were to be held in a 
beautiful shady field near Magdalen College. 
We use Mr. Hughes's own language in describ- 
ing it : 

"On a lovely Sunday morning in June I 
marched from New Inn, Hall Street, with my 
stewards to the right and left of me; and a 
great retinue of well-dressed ladies and gentle- 
men, who formed our admirable choir, followed, 
leading the singing most beautifully. Behind 
them came the whole of our congregation, who 
had never confessed Christ in that public way 
before. A great multitude of people collected 
out of curiosity, so that on that day I marched 
past Balliol College, over the very spot on 



51 



The Sunday-Night Service, 

which the martyred bishops were burnt — the 
spot now marked by a cross — accompanied by 
at least two thousand people, and by all my 
Church officers. In fact, every one I knew was 
in the procession, except one of my own little 
daughters, who was too bashful to perform that 
way in public, even in the society of her father. 
With much self-consciousness she walked alone 
on the pavement, and tried, in vain, to look as 
though she had no connection with the proces- 
sionists. 

"It was a thrilling moment when two thou- 
sand Protestants, singing the hymns of the Ref- 
ormation, marched triumphantly over the very 
spot where Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer were 
burnt. Chairs and benches were provided in 
the beautiful field for those who could not 
stand; and in the city of Oxford, as in the 
villages, "Open-air Day" proved a great bless- 
ing, not only to multitudes who, under ordi- 
nary circumstances, would not hear the gospel 
at all, but to our own people, who needed to be 
shaken up from their false respectability, and 
52 



Seizing Strategic Opportunities. 

to be lifted out of the rut in which we are only 
too apt to sink." 

In this incident is seen something of the 
spirit and methods of the man who saw in eight- 
een months, in conservative, scholarly Oxford 
and environs, fifteen hundred conversions. It 
was the remaking of Methodism in that part of 
England. And we see also the spirit and some- 
thing of the methods which made Hugh Price 
Hughes the greatest leader English Methodism 
has had in a hundred years, and which produced 
the Forward Movement in England, and has 
given a new lease of life to Methodism in that 
land. 

Rev. J. Gregory Mantle has well voiced the 
necessity of using at times strategic methods 
when he says : 

"As the Church awakes to the fact that, be- 
tween her and those who need her message the 
most, there is a great gulf fixed, she will see 
the necessity of leaving her stately buildings — 
sanctified bricks and mortar, some one has called 
them — and meeting these unreached multitudes 
53 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

on ground with which they are more familair 
than she is." 

Preachers who will hold services, bright and 
brief and attractive, in the parks or other places 
of open-air gatherings of the people, will find 
not only a respectful hearing there, but will find 
many of those who hear them there following 
them to their churches, and will win many a 
convert from their numbers. 

Men know the difference between dilettante 
religion and downright, manly earnestness in 
religion — honest love for sinful men. The for- 
mer they call "Churchianity," and despise it; 
the latter they call Christianity, and they respect 
it and believe in it. 

Still another strategic method is the using 
of some building for Christian service which is 
not regularly employed for that purpose. For 
example, the congregation of the First Christian 
Church in Louisville, Ky., holds its evening serv- 
ice the first Sunday night in each month in a 
theater. The attendance is about double the 
ordinary congregation, and many of them are 
54 



Seizing Strategic Opportunities 

people who rarely go to church. Those familiar 
with the facts know that it has done much to 
give the pastor, the Kev. Dr. E. L. Powell, a 
strong hold on the general public. There is a 
certain class of men in every community who 
will not attend services at the church, but who 
will go to hear a speaker at a theater or other 
place of popular secular concourse. 

It is said that a Chicago Church, some years 
ago, whenever its pastor preached an unusually 
strong sermon, would rent a theater for the 
following Sunday night, and have the pastor 
repeat the sermon, with the result that a throng 
of people would be present, and the pastor would 
get a hold on many whom he had not previously 
known, and they would follow him to his church. 
The pastor is now an honored bishop. 



55 



Chapter V. 
A SYMPOSIUM ON SERMON SERIES. 

We present in this chapter the replies of a 
score of our leading preachers to the question 
we asked them as to what extent they have made 
use of a series of sermons in solving the Sun- 
day-evening problem. 

Willis P. Odell, pastor of Calvary Church, 
ISTew York City, says: "I have made fre- 
quent use of the series idea for my Sunday- 
evening work, and always with success. . . . 
Here at Calvary our Sunday-evening audiences 
average from fifteen hundred to eighteen hun- 
dred. Once a month we put in a special musical 
service, and then we are crowded to overflowing. 
I inclose a few cards to give you an idea of the 
way we advertise, and also of the subjects in- 
troduced." 

Charles Bayard Mitchell, of First Church, 
56 



A Symposium on Sermon Series. 

Cleveland, Ohio: "I inclose several series of 
Sunday-night sermons. I sometimes preach a 
series, first getting cards printed and distrib- 
uted. I magnify my evening service. Preach 
the best I know how. Have always had larger 
night than morning audiences." 

Robert Mclntyre, First Church, Los An- 
geles, Cal. : "I have found a Sunday-evening 
course of sermons on 'The Six Creative Days' 
very popular, having to repeat it in the same 
church within five years. I have also had suc- 
cess with a course on 'The Model Home/ tak- 
ing up 'The Model Father,' 'The Model Mother,' 
'Wife,' 'Husband,' 'Son,' etc. Also have had 
overflowing houses to a series on 'Religious Les- 
sons from the Seven Scenic Wonders of Amer- 
ica,' and likewise a series on 'Spiritual Lessons 
from the Lives of Greatest Americans.' " 

J. M. Thoburn, Jr., Calvary Church, Alle- 
gheny, Pa. : "I have not yet solved the problem 
of the Sunday-evening congregation. Every 
Church and community presents some new phase 
of the nuestion. There is nothing so attractive 
57 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

as the simple gospel, and yet even the gospel 
must needs be reclad to secure the hearing we 
desire. Sometimes I use a series of sermons — 
never more than three. Sometimes an address 
in a praise service. And, two or three times 
each year, I use a stereopticon. A platform- 
meeting, the pastor in charge, with three bright 
addresses from three young men of the congre- 
gation, once a year, takes well. Or, a platform- 
meeting, with a brief address from each society 
of the Church, never fails to interest." 

S. Parkes Cadman, Central Congregational 
Church, Brooklyn, !N". Y. : "In my preaching 
on Sunday evenings I have seldom adopted the 
popular habit of a series of sermons, and I have 
not hitherto advertised my subjects ahead. Some 
few years ago, when I was a pastor in Yonkers, 
!N". Y., I preached a series of sermons upon 'The 
Prodigal Son/ which met with some success, 
and were repeated by request. When I came 
to New York to the Metropolitan Temple I 
preached them again, and once more they were 
asked for; so that on two successive occasions 
58 



A Symposium on Sermon Series, 

I have repeated these sermons. In my present 
pastorate I introduced a series, last winter, of 
Old Testament characters, which ran for several 
weeks, and secured some approval. Apart from 
these exceptions, my general rule has been to 
follow my own free will, and simply state that 
I would be there to preach. One of the success- 
ful methods of Sunday-night work is a first- 
rate musical service. Hugh Price Hughes's 
magnificent campaign in London, where he gath- 
ered a large congregation in St. James Hall — 
one of the most difficult situations in the metrop- 
olis — was due to the fact that he had a splendid 
orchestra of sixty or more performers, playing 
with balance and refinement and devotional feel- 
ing. In my church at the Metropolitan Temple 
I employed a smaller orchestra with good results. 
I am of opinion that music upon a larger scale, 
and, where possible, discarding cheap tunes and 
using a larger range of instrumentalism than is 
now common, would be of great assistance to 
many of our pastors who are now struggling with 
this problem of Sunday-evening congregations. 
59 



The Sunday -Night Service. 

Let it be subordinate to the preaching, but let 
it be. Of course, there are other items, such 
as prompt seating, courteous ushering, hymns 
which are popular/' etc. 

Charles Edward Locke, Delaware Avenue 
Church, Buffalo, 1ST. Y. : "I have used the 
series idea in my sermon-making, especially for 
the Sunday-evening service, all through my min- 
istry, and always to the apparent interest of 
my congregations. ... I do not always 
follow the subjects on consecutive nights, but 
introduce other themes as occasion may demand. 
I find that such a series not only increases in- 
terest and attendance in the congregation, but 
it is most stimulating to the preacher in his 
studies and reading. It is rare, in these recent 
years, that I feel 'preached out.' As early as 
Tuesday of each week I find my elasticity has 
returned, and I am keen to get into the study for 
my next S abb ath' s preparation. However, I think 
I ought to say, inasmuch as you have asked for 
my experience, that I am constantly reading the 
Gospels, especially dwelling upon the words of 
60 



A Symposium on Sermon Series. 

Christ. I am finding that the exhaustless foun- 
tain of sermonic material and the spirit of 
preaching are in our Lord himself. My New 
Testament was never so invaluable as now, and 
no subject so charms a large audience as Jesus." 

C. L. Goodell, Hanson Place Church, Brook- 
lyn, N. Y. : "I send you two series of bio- 
graphical sermons which were much appreciated. 
It is a great inspiration to me to see the young 
people crowd the Sunday-night series. But 
more important than the crowd is the purpose 
for which they come. The service that wins 
some for Christ from a church half filled is bet- 
ter than a crowded church with no Christ to 
bless the crowd." 

Camden M. Cobern, St. James Church, Chi- 
cago, 111. : "The Sunday-night service is a dif- 
ferent problem in different localities. When I 
was in Ann Arbor a series of sermons on any 
great, living, theological question or social ques- 
tion would draw crowds. In a downtown 
church — such as Trinity Church, Denver — it 
was necessary to touch some social topic, or a 
61 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

question in which business men were interested, 
in order to draw the crowd. A series which was 
not only popular, but brought many people into 
the Church was built on the topic, 'If I had 
My Life to Live Over.' Questions were sent 
out to the leading men in the city, and their 
replies were utilized in the discussion. Another 
series which drew the music-loving people was 
'The Gospel in Great Oratorios.' I am now pre- 
paring a series on 'Religious Opinions of our 
Great Statesmen.' " 

William A. Quayle, Grand Avenue Church, 
Kansas City, Mo. : "I never preach series of 
sermons. I do not care to be hampered in that 
way. I preach as the theme catches me, and 
like to leave the hour open to any new inroad of 
the wind of God. For like reasons, among 
others, I never publish topics for a Sunday. I 
might change my mind. I have no recipe for 
a Sunday-evening service save this, always: 
'Preach the gospel and take themes from the 
Bible, because it is our Book, and because it is 
the parent of the most varied thought and in- 



A Symposium on Sermon Series, 

tellectual stimulus I know. Indeed, there is 
nothing to approach it, even on that side. My 
belief grows, if possible, that if the people will 
not come to hear a man preach the gospel, they 
will not come to hear that man preach any- 
thing. Some people will not go to hear any- 
body preach. Others will not go to hear some 
of us preach. So here are our limitations." 

Albert B. Storms, First Church, Des 
Moines, la. : "I find a series of subjects for 
Sunday evenings adds to interest. It also helps 
the preacher — avoids casting about in the midst 
of a chaos of half-formulated themes for the 
right one each week. Have preached this year 
on 'The Ten Commandments and the Ethics of 
Jesus.' The outline of subjects is so readily 
suggested, based on the Commandments in Ex- 
odus and the Sermon on the Mount, as to make 
further outline unnecessary. Have also taken 
themes in serial order from messages to the 
Seven Churches of Asia." 

George Elliott, Central Church, Detroit, 
Mich. : "I have never had special trouble as to 
63 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

the Sunday-evening service, and have no theo- 
ries to advance. My plan is to make that serv- 
ice warmly evangelistic, and not to make the mis- 
take of unduly abbreviating it. Give full time 
to the service of worship, and preach an hour 
if you feel like it and have a message." 

Edwin H. Hughes, late pastor of Center 
Church, Maiden, Mass: "Both of my pas- 
torates, since leaving the seminary, have been 
in Massachusetts and in the near suburbs 
of Boston. In both places the Sunday-even- 
ing service had become a problem. In the 
first case, it was held in the vestry. Later 
the audience overflowed somewhat into the 
main room. Then we moved the service 
into the regular auditorium. After due time 
the audience overflowed back into the vestry 
again and we filled both rooms. In my pres- 
ent charge we have maintained a large evening 
service for more than seven years. It is held 
in the main room of the church, and is as largely 
attended as the morning service. Nothing that 
even resembles sensationalism has been em- 
64 



A Symposium on Sermon Series. 

ployed; not even current events have been ex- 
ploited to excite interest. The subjects have all 
been eternal. The meeting has been run on its 
essential merits; I very seldom preach half an 
hour; the service is just an hour long. It has 
been the recruiting ground of the Church. In 
my own opinion, no Church can have a wide 
reach toward the outside multitudes save 
through a strong evening service. The whole 
problem has seemed to me one of leadership, 
both lay and pastoral. If the influential lay- 
men of the local Church attend the evening 
service and feel and urge its importance, the 
solution is near at hand. This all presumes 
that the pastor will not slur or skimp the second 
service. If he puts all of his preparation into 
the morning sermon, and allows Sunday after- 
noon for a hasty scraping together of fragments 
for an evening discourse, the public will soon 
take the service at his estimate. The little ser- 
mon will get a little audience. We receive 
here the measure that we give. In these matters 
action and reaction are more nearly equal than 
5 65 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

men suppose. Unquestionably, the impression 
is now abroad in many communities that the 
second service is a second-rate service. Of 
course, when people feel thus they are not likely 
to give it a full and eager attendance. Every 
pastor, in adroit and quiet ways, should discour- 
age the idea that the morning meeting is utterly 
primary. We have so long given to it the deeper 
services of the Church, such as the Holy Com- 
munion and the reception of members, that 
many of our people regard the evening meeting 
as meant for outsiders. Our preaching often 
emphasizes the like view. We preach growing 
sermons in the morning and planting sermons 
in the evening. The saints who come in the 
evening hear a sermon for sinners ; and the sin- 
ners who come in the morning hear a sermon for 
saints. It is well to change the order occasion- 
ally. For, when the sinners begin to take the 
evening service at the value placed on it by the 
saints, our problem is on in full force. Let 
once the understanding spread abroad that the 
preacher does just as good work in the evening 
66 



A Symposium on Sermon Series 

as in the morning; let it be frequently reported 
that those not at the evening service have 
'missed' it, and soon the tide will set toward the 
second service again. If these principles seem 
academic and scarcely applicable to certain com- 
munities, I can only say that they have worked 
unfailingly in all my pastorates, which have 
been in widely different communities." 

Frost Craft, Trinity Church, Denver: "I 
have seldom preached series of sermons. I have 
steadily preached the gospel in the evenings, 
following the general plan of preaching to the 
Church in the morning, and to the unconverted 
in the evening. The results in my own case 
have been more satisfactory in the long run 
than by the use of sensational methods." 

P. H. Swift, Wesley Church, Chicago: "I 
have always struck for an evening congregation. 
My evening congregation now is much larger 
than my morning. That has been the case at 
Court Street (Eockford), Englewood, and Wes- 
ley. The inclosed series, on 'Heroes and Hero- 
ines.' was especially for young people. I gave 
67 



The Sunday-Night Service, 

out cards by the hundreds in the Church, and 
then had them put in every house within ten 
blocks of the church, and on Saturday of each 
week. Sometimes I put out special 'dodgers.' 
The most popular Sunday-evening series I ever 
gave was a series on 'After Death, What V The 
themes were: (1) The Rational Grounds for 
Belief in Immortality; (2) What the Bible has 
to Say about Immortality; (3) Life Beyond 
the Grave; (4) Shall We Know Our Friends 
in Heaven? I am now using the stereopticon 
with great success for Sunday-night work. I 
try to be something more than a shower of pic- 
tures. I gave one series on 'The Story of Jesus 
Christ.' The work was very popular. I am 
now at work on 'In the Footsteps of St. Paul.' 
I take the congregation on a tour of the lands 
Paul visited; tell them all about the places; 
give as many illustrations as possible; put the 
Epistles in their proper places in the Book of 
Acts, etc. I take about five evenings for the 
Missionary Journeys. I find many places 
where I can preach a short, sharp sermon ; some- 
68 



A Symposium on Sermon Series. 

times close with a ten-minute sermon after the 
stereopticon has done its work, and we have 
reached some place or incident where we can 
well pause for such work. One can, once a 
quarter, give a review of the Sunday-school les- 
sons with the stereopticon, and make it im- 
mensely practical and popular. It is worth 
everything to get the young people of the Sun- 
day-school out on Sunday evening, and we are 
getting them. I have given several other series, 
many of them specially evangelistic. Last 
year I got good results by getting one hundred 
of my young people to do their very best to get 
one person to the Sunday-evening service each 
week, and to pray for them before coming, that 
the gospel might reach them that very night/' 
Edward S. Ninde, Ann Arbor, Mich. : "I 
have always found that the congregations are 
larger and the results in every way more 
satisfactory when I preach sermons in series. 
The ' Short Talks to Men of Business' carried 
me through one hot summer. Another summer 
I preached a series on what I called 'Fresh-air 
69 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

Subjects,' taking such themes as 'The Lakes and 
Rivers of the Bible/ 'The Mountains of the 
Bible/ The Flowers/ 'Birds/ 'Trees/ etc., of 
the Bible. While some of these subjects do not 
seem to bear upon the Bible, yet in the sermons 
themselves it has been constantly my chief pur- 
pose to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, and to 
lead to the conversion of souls." 

Charles A. Crane, People's Temple, Boston, 
Mass. : "Our Sunday-night congregations av- 
erage about fifteen hundred, and our member- 
ship is about four hundred, so that we have no 
problem save that of securing the conversion 
of those attending. I inclose a sample of a 
series which proved very popular. The great 
themes seem to attract better than what may be 
called current topics." 

Joshua Stansfield, Meridian Street, Indian- 
apolis, Ind. : "In four out of five important 
charges I have served I have found that series 
of sermons for Sunday nights have been much 
appreciated and decidedly valuable to the 
Church, to a fair portion of the public, and to 
70 



A Symposium on Sermon Series. 

myself. I have given series on 'The Gospel in 
Genesis/ 'The Words of the Master/ and sev- 
eral series from 'Old Testament Characters/ 
which have always proved interesting and help- 
ful. I believe that Old Testament biography is 
a most fruitful text for effective preaching 
to-day." 



71 



Chapter VI. 

SOME SUCCESSFUL SERMON SERIES. 

by willis p. odell, calvary church, new 
york city. 

Those Holy Mountains. 

1. Quarantana — The Mount of Temptation. 

2. Hattin — The Mount of Beatitudes. 

3. Hermon — The Mount of Transfiguration. 

4. Calvary — The Mount of Crucifixion. 

5. Olivet — The Mount of Ascension. 

Sermons to Young Men. 

1. Why Should a Young Man Become a Chris- 

tian? 

2. The Things that Hinder Young Men from 

Becoming Christians. 

3. What if All Young Men in New York 

Should Come to Christ % 

n 



Some Successful Sermon Series. 

4. How May a Young Man Maintain a Chris- 
tian Life ? 

Tongues of Fibe. 

1. Knox — The Fearless Scotch Reformer. 

2. Whitefield— The Wonderful English Evan- 

gelist. 

3. Taylor — The Eccentric Sailor Preacher. 

4. Simpson — The Eloquent Methodist Bishop. 

The Stoby of a Wondebful Life. 

1. A Youth at Court. 

2. The Fiery Furnace. 

3. A Banquet in a Palace. 

4. In a Lion's Den. 

by chaeles l. goodell,, hanson place 
chuech, bbooelyn, n. y. 

Supbeme Questions foe Thinking People.* 

1. The Life Superb. 

2. The Victory Supreme. 

3. What Really Happened Two Hundred Years 

Ago. 



* Each of these sermons was published and gratuitously 
distributed the Sunday following delivery. 

73 



The Sunday -Night Service. 

Bible Biographies. 

1. Great Soldiers of the Bible. 

2. Great Statesmen of the Bible. 

3. Heathen Heroines. 

4. Young Men of the New Testament. 

5. The Heroines of Jesus. 

God's Heroes. 

1. Savonarola, the Florentine Patriot. 

2. Martin Luther, the Hero of the German Ref- 

ormation. 

3. General Gordon, the Hero of Khartoum. 

4. John Knox, the Hero of Scotland. 

5. John Bunyan, the Dreamer of Bedford Jail. 

6. John Wesley, the Hero of Methodism. 

by camden m. cobern, st. james church, 
chicago, ill. 

Short Sermons on Great Subjects. 

1. God. 

2. The Trinity. 

3. The Fall. 

4. The Atonement. 

74 



Some Successful Sermon Series. 

The Man Christ Jesus. 

1. Jesus as a Preacher. 

2. The Young Eabbi. 

3. The Ideal Man. 

4. Jesus as a Controversialist. 

5. The Miracle Worker. 

6. The Builder of Christianity. 

7. Questions Suggested by Preceding Sermons 

Answered. 

The Egyptian Monuments of the Bible. 

1. The Whisperings of the Sphinx. 

2. The Stones Crying Out. 

3. Some Skeptical Objections Buried by the 

Excavator's Spade. 

4. Question-box Lecture. 

Old Testament Bible Stories Ke-examined 
in the Light of Modern Research. 

1. The Creation. 

2. Adam and Eve. 

3. The Garden of Eden. 

4. The Apple and the Serpent. 

5. Noah and the Elood. 

75 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

6. The Tower of Babel. 

7. Jonah and the Whale. 

8. Question-box Lecture. 

by charles bayard mitchell, first church, 
cleveland, o. 

The Young Man. 

1. The Young Man and His Influence. 

2. The Young Man and His Ambitions. 

3. The Young Man and His Conscience. 

4. The Young Man and His Master. 

Four Besetting Sins of Young Women. 

1. Lack of Self-reliance. 

2. Selfishness. 

3. Vanity. 

4. Frivolity. 

Four Besetting Sins of Young Men. 

1. Gambling. 

2. Skepticism. 

3. Intemperance. 

4. Dishonesty. 

76 



Some Successful Sermon Series. 

About a Man. 

1. What is It to Be a Man ? 

2. Is It Easy to Be a Man ? 

3. Does It Pay to Be a Man ? 

4. The Average Man. 

5. The Devil and a Man. 

6. The Winning Man. 

7. Wanted — a Man! 

8. Be a Man. 

Highways to Hell. 

1. The Amusement Highway. 

2. The Money Highway. 

3. The Self-indulgent Highway. 

4. The Drink Highway. 

5. The Skeptic Highway. 

by charles edward locke, delaware avenue 
church, buffalo, n. y. 

Popular Inquiries Concerning Great Gos- 
pel Truths. 

1. Shall Many or Pew Be Saved ? 

2. How Par is Conscience a Safe Guide ? 



77 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

3. Some Reasons for a Future Life Independ- 

ent of the Bible. 

4. What is the Need of Prayer when God 

Knows Our Needs before We ask Him ? 

5. Did Jesus Christ Claim to Be God? 

6. "Did God Make Man or did Man Make 

God?" 

7. Is the Union of the Churches Probable and 

Practicable? And, in that Event, what 
Advantages would Accrue? 

8. What Shall Be the Nature of Our Resur- 

rection Body, and Shall We Know Each 
Other There ? 

9. Is Poverty Necessary to Character ? 

Is the World Getting Better ? 

1. Morals. 

2. Unbelief. 

3. Achievements of Evangelical Christianity. 

4. Danger Signals. These include (1) Li- 

censed Vice; (2) Secularization of the 
Sabbath; (3) Mammon in the Church; 
(4) Cowardliness among Christians. 
78 



Some Successful Sermon Series. 

5. Danger Signals. (Part II.) (1) Family 

Foes; (2) Foes of the Public School; 
(3) Demagogues in Politics; (4) Neg- 
lect of the Eleventh Commandment; 
(5) Substitutes for the Simple, Old- 
fashioned Gospel. 

6. Concluding Observations. (1) Increasing 

Tide of Christian Faith; (2) The King- 
dom of Christ's Triumph in this Dispen- 
sation; (3) High Valuation Placed on 
Human Life; (4) Democracy Not a Fail- 
ure; (5) Christianity Getting Ready to 
Throw Off the Chains of Vice. 

BY POLEMUS H. SWIFT, WESLEY CHURCH, 
CHICAGO. 

The Valley of Blessings ; Or, Pearls from 
the Twenty-third Psalm. 

1. Green Pastures and Still Waters. 

2. Paths of Righteousness. 

3. Light in the Dark Valley. 

4. Cups that Run Over. 

5. Two Angels on the Path of Life. 

79 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

Sundays Over the Sea. 

1. Rome, or Keligion and Ecclesiasticism. 

2. Paris, or Religion and Pleasure. 

3. London, or Religion and Commerce. 

4. The Ecumenical Conference, or Conquests 

of World-wide Methodism. 

5. Berlin, or the Gospel of the Dresden Gallery. 

Messages from the Preacher-Poets of 
America. 

1. Bryant, the Pioneer. 

2. Whittier, the Quaker Poet of Freedom. 

3. Spiritual Messages from the Poetry of Long- 

fellow. • 

Gospel Voices from Beyond the Sea. 

1. Revelations of Campo Santo. 

2. The Glories of the Sistine Chapel. 

3. The Gospel of the World's Greatest Ruin. 

4. Spiritual Voices from the Romantic Rhine. 

5. Great Cathedrals as Religious Teachers. 



80 



Some Successful Sermon Series. 

BY GEORGE ELLIOTT, CENTRAL CHURCH, DETROIT, 
MICH. 

The Lord's Prayer. 

1. Our Father. 

2. Our Father's Name. 

3. Our Father's Kingdom. 

4. Our Father's Will. 

5. Our Father's Giving. 

6. Our Father's Forgiving. 

7. Our Father's Guidance. 

8. Our Father's Deliverance. 

9. Our Father's Praise. 

Elijah. 

1. The Prophet Appears. 

2. The Prophet Retires. 

3. The Prophet Reappears. 

4. The Prophet Prays. 

5. The Prophet Despairs. 

6. The Prophet Vindicates Private Right. 

7. The Prophet Ascends. 



81 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

Joseph the Dreamer. 

1. The Dreamer. 

2. The Dreamer a Slave. 

3. The Dreamer in Prison. 

4. The Dreamer Exalted. 

5. The Dream Comes True. 

by edward s. ninde, ann arbor, mich. 

Talks to Young Men. 

1. Wanted — A Man. 

2. Heart to Heart. 

3. Getting to the Top. 

4. Danger Signals. 

5. "God's Gentleman." 

6. A Paying Partnership. 

From the Nile to the Jordan. 

1. The Mummies of Egypt. 

2. Afloat on the Nile. 

3. A Prince or a Slave. 

4. Pharaoh on Trial. 

5. A Wall of Water. 

6. In the Land of Silence. 

82 



Some Successful Sermon Series. 

7. Heaven Touching Earth. 

8. A Drop of Poison. 

9. Mount Pisgah's Lofty Height. 

Short Talks to Men of Business. 

1. Luke, the Physician. 

2. Zebedee, the Fisherman. 

3. Elisha, the Farmer. 

4. Zenas, the Lawyer. 

5. Cornelius, the Soldier. 

6. Tubal, the Musician. 

7. Abel, the Shepherd. 

8. Mmrod, the Hunter. 

9. Ahithophel, the Politician. 

10. Levi, the Customs Officer. 

BY CHARLES A. CRANE, PEOPLE^ TEMPLE, 
BOSTON. 

Constructive Sermons on the Pillars of 
Our Faith. 

1. The Resurrection. 

2. The Atonement. 

3. Miracles. 

4. Conversion. 

83 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

5. The Incarnation. 

6. Heaven and Hell. 

by james m. thoburn, jr., calvary church, 
allegheny, pa. 

Epidemic Delusions. 

1. Spiritualism. "Bring Me Up Samuel." 

2. Theosophy. "As Jannes and Jambres With- 

stood Moses, So do These Kesist the 
Truth." 

3. Christian Science. "Refuse Profane and 

Old Wives' Fables." 

Neglected Topics. 

1. Sin. 

2. The Devil. 

3. Hell. 

Oriental Eeligions. 

1. Hinduism and Christianity. "Ye worship ye 

know not what. We know what we wor- 
ship." 

2. Buddha and Christ. "He was not that Light. 

That was the true Light which lighteth 
every man that cometh into the world." 
84 



Some Successful Sermon Series. 

3. The False and the True Prophet. "The 
prince of this world cometh, and hath 
nothing in me." 

BY B. L. m'eLEOY, BEOAD STEEET CHUECH, 

columbus, o. 
The Common People's Cheist. 

1. What a Homeless Man did for the Home. 

2. Christ's Illumination of Poverty. 

3. A Man of Sympathy in a World of Sorrow. 

In Peeils of the City. 

1. Lost in the Crowd. 

2. The Hidden Light. 

3. False Cosmopolitanism. 

by joshua stansfield, mebidian steeet 
chuech, indianapolis, ind. 

The Ceeed of Cheistendom. 

1. The Fatherhood of God. "I believe in God 

the Father." 

2. The Divineness of Jesus. "And in Jesus 

Christ His only Son. 
85 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

3. The Dignity of Human Life. "He was con- 

ceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the 
Virgin Mary." 

4. Life and Judgment. "He shall come to 

judge the quick and the dead." 

5. The True Church. "I believe in the Holy 

Ghost, the holy catholic Church." 

6. The Life Beyond. "The resurrection of the 

body and the life everlasting." 

Some Essential Christian Doctrines. 

1. God — The Effect of a Proper Conception on 

Character. 

2. Law — Its Nature and Intent. 

3. Sin — Is It Weakness, or Worse? 

4. Salvation — A Bold Word. 

5. The Christian — An Incarnation of the 

Christ Doctrine and Life. 

6. Human Destiny — Whither, and What? 

by albert b. storms, first church, des 
moines, ia. 

The Gates of New Life. 

1. Out of Darkness into His Marvelous Light. 

2. Not Disobedient to the Heavenly Vision. 



Some Successful Sermon Series. 

3. The Kich Young Kuler. "He went away 

sorrowful." 

4. A Son of Thunder Transformed. 

The Life of Paul. 

1. "When I was a Child." 

2. Farewell to Saul : a New Man. 

3. In the Desert of Arabia. 

4. An Encounter with a Sorcerer. 

5. Stoned and Worshiped. 

6. A Kebuke and a Quarrel. 

7. Songs in a Dungeon. 

8. Preaching on Mars' Hill. 

9. Stirring Times in Ephesus. 

10. Jerusalem in an Uproar. 

11. A Man Before a King. 

12. A Night and a Day in the Deep. 

Messages to the Seven Churches. 

1. An invitation to Backsliders. 

2. The Crown of Life on the Brow of Poverty. 

3. The Hidden Manna in the Very Place Where 

Satan's Seat Is. 

4. The Deep Things of Satan. 

87 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

5. The White Garments of the Saints who Per- 

severe. 

6. The City of Brotherly Love. 

7. The Miserable and Poor and Blind and 

Naked who Thought They Were Kick 

8. The Invitation of Mercy. 

BY LUTHER FREEMAN, FIRST CHURCH, CHATTA- 
NOOGA, TENN. 

Three Sermons About You. 

1. Where Did You Come From? 

2. What Are You Here For ? 

3. Where are You Going? 

(PREACHED AT WALTHAM, MASS., THE "WATCH- 
TO¥n/') 

The Watch. 

1. The Main Spring. 

2. The Balance Wheel. 

3. The Jewels. 

4. The Adjustment. 

5. The Testing Koom. 

To Young Men. 

1. The Young Man from the Country. 

2. The Young Man and the City. 



Some Successful Sermon Series. 

3. The Young Man and His Friends. 

4. The Young Man and His Habits. 

5. The Young Man and His Brotherhood. 

6. Opportunities for Young Men in Chatta- 

nooga. 

The Gospel of the Human Body. 

1. The Eye. 

2. The Ear. 

3. The Hand. 

4. The Tongue. 

5. The Heart. 

by edwin h. hughes, eate pastor of center 
church, malden, mass., now presi- 
dent of de pauw university. 

The Figures of Speech in the Sermon on 
the Mount. 

1. The Salt of the Earth. Matt, v, 13. 

2. The Light of the World. Matt. 5, 14. 

3. The Eight Hand Sin. Matt, v, 30. 

4. The Left Hand Sin, Ignorance. Matt, vi, 3. 

5. The Treasure and the Heart. Matt, vi, 21. 

6. The Eye of the Soul. Matt. vi ? 22. 

89 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

7. The Cubit unto the Stature. Matt, vii, 27. 

8. The Measure and Its Eeturn. Matt, vii, 1. 

9. The Beam in the Eye. Matt, vii, 3. 

10. The Pearls before the Swine. Matt, vii, 6. 

11. Bread or a Stone. Matt, vii, 9. 

12. The Tree and Its Fruit. Matt, vii, 18. . 

13. The House and Its Builder. Matt, vii, 24 ff. 

The Regular Church Service as a Means 
of Grace. 

1. Introductory: Reverence for the Sanctuary. 

2. Singing as a Means of Grace. 

3. Prayer as a Means of Grace. 

4. Bible-reading as a Means of Grace. 

5. Giving as a Means of Grace. 

6. Hearing as a Means of Grace. 

The effort in this series was simply to in- 
form with meaning the different parts in the 
Church order of service. 

Some Attributes of God, and Their Prac- 
tical Bearing on Life. 

1. Introductory: Changed by Looking into 
God's Character. 2 Cor. iii, 18. 
90 



Some Successful Sermon Series, 

2. The Knowledge of God. Prov. xv, 3. 

3. The Presence of God. Psa. cxxxix, 7. 

4. The Power of God. Mark x, 27. 

5. The Justice of God. Job viii, 3. 

6. The Love of God. 1 John iv, 8. 

by fayette l. thompson, central church, 
davenport, ia. 

Art and Faith. 

1. Murillo's "Immaculate Conception," or the 

Divine Fatherhood. 

2. Raphael's Sistine Madonna, or The Human 

Motherhood. 

3. Hoffman's "Christ Among the Doctors," or 

Foregleams of Wisdom. 

4. "The Transfiguration," or The Irresistible 

Glory. 

5. Hoffman's "Gethsemane," or Obedience unto 

Death. 

6. Ender's "He Has Risen," or Immortality 

Assured. 

What is It to Be a Christian? 

1. The World's Answer. 

2. The Bible Test. 

91 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

3. The Prayer Test. 

4. The Good Works Test. 

5. The Holy Spirit Test. 

The Ceisis of Youth. 
To young men: 

1. The Young Man and Personal Purity. 

2. The Young Man and Crime. 

3. The Young Man and the Legalized Liquor- 

traffic. 

4. The Young Man and Another Young Man. 
To young women : 

1. The Young Woman and Her Tongue. 

2. The Young Woman and Her Mother. 

3. The Young Woman and Pleasure. 

4. The Young Woman and Her Future Hus- 

band. 

Maeeiage. 

1. Wedlock : The Divine Program. 

2. Courtship: The Best Foot Forward. 

3. Mated, or Whom to Marry. 

4. Husbandhood: Strong with the Strength of 

Ten. 

92 



Some Successful Sermon Series. 

5. Wifehood : Because the Heart is Pure. 

6. Parentage : A Partnership with God. 

7. Home: The Earthly Heaven. 

8. Heaven: The Eternal Home. 

by wilbur f. sheridan, trinity church, 
louisville, ky. 

The Growing Christ. 

1. The Interrupted Rapture of Mary. 

2. The Influence of Environment on the Early 

Development of Jesus. 

3. The Triple Test on the Mountains. 

4. Christ's Inaugural: A Gospel of Sympathy. 

5. The Waxing and Waning of Christ's Popu- 

larity. 

6. "Back to Christ" as the one Standard of 

Doctrine and Life. 

7. Christ's Self-sacrificing Love the Method of 

Redemption. 

8. The Joy of a Finished Work. 

New Portraits from an Old-Time Gallery. 

1. A Crownless King (Moses). 

2. The Fall of a "Swift" Politician (Absalom). 

93 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

3. The Dead March of Saul. 

4. A Bow that Never Turned Back (Jonathan). 

5. An Apprenticeship to a Throne (David). 

6. A Hero Playing with Fire (Samson). 

7. A Country Lad in a Crowded City (Daniel). 

Repeated by request. 

8. The Song-heralded Son of David (Jesus). 

Six Modern Devils. 

1. The Bad Literature Devil. 

2. The Gossip Devil. 

3. The Pleasure Devil. 

4. The Gambling Devil. 

5. The Liquor Devil. 

6. The Greed-for-gold Devil. 

Young Women Who Dared. 

1. A Sister's Devotion and What Came of It 

(Miriam). 

2. A Working Girl's Exaltation (Ruth). 

3. The Wife who Saved the Farm (Abigail). 

4. A Woman in League with the Devil 

(Jezebel). 

5. The Maid who Delivered Her People 

(Esther). 

94 



Chaptee VII. 

A PLAN THAT REACHED MEN. 

In 1897 the author tried an experiment 
with a view to securing the attention and at- 
tendance of irreligious men upon a series of ser- 
mons. The place was a Michigan town of ten 
thousand people. The experiment proved so 
successful that he used it a second time, in 1902, 
in Louisville, Ky. Again it worked so well that 
he gives it here, believing that it is usable in 
any community after a pastor has gotten suf- 
ficiently acquainted to be in touch with a con- 
siderable number of non-church-going men. We 
may add that the meetings growing out of this 
method resulted in the conversion of enough 
men in each of the cities to have made a re- 
spectable official board, both as regards num- 
bers and quality. The plan was to send letters 
95 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

to a hundred men who were not members of the 
Church, which read as follows: 

"Dear Sir, — Pardon the liberty I take in 
addressing you, but I am anxious to secure yOur 
opinion as to why the great majority of Louis- 
ville men are not actively interested in Church 
work. I am a preacher, and naturally look at 
it from a preacher's viewpoint; but I covet 
the privilege of looking at it through your eyes. 
If it is not asking too much, will you make a 
suggestion or two on the following points : 

"1. Why are not more men members of the 
Church ? 

"2. Are the Churches of your acquaintance 
really doing the work you believe the Church 
of Christ was founded to accomplish ? 

"3. What do you consider the most helpful 
features of Church life to-day ? 

"I am writing to a number of gentlemen 

about this, and their answers, I am frank to say, 

will form the basis of a series of sermons I hope 

to preach at Trinity Church, beginning Novem- 

96 



A Plan that Reached Men. 

ber 24th. Your communication will be consid- 
ered strictly confidential. Should you be able 
to attend the series of sermons, I assure you 
that you will not be personally addressed on the 
subject of religion. Thanking you in advance 
for the favor, I am 

"Respectfully yours, 

"Wilbue F. Sheeida^." 

Eeplies came from all classes of men — 
working men, business men, and professional 
men. Some men whose reputation is nation- 
wide wrote frankly and fully in reply. Al- 
though not more than twenty-five per cent re- 
sponded by letter, others replied verbally, and 
altogether they furnished an entirely adequate 
basis for the series of sermons. Still others, 
who did not answer at all, were among those 
who united with the Church as a result of the 
services. The newspapers took up the matter, 
and gave hearty and generous advertising to it, 
thus bringing the services to the attention of the 
entire city. 

7 97 



The Sunday-Night Service, 

In reply to the question, "What do you con- 
sider the most helpful feature of Church life 
to-day ?" there was striking unanimity in the re- 
plies. Almost without exception it was, "The 
training of the children in the Sunday-school." 
The second question, "Are the Churches of your 
acquaintance really doing the work you believe 
the Church of Christ was founded to accom- 
plish ?" received qualified replies, as a rule. 
None answered decidedly in the affirmative. 
None absolutely in the negative. The consen- 
sus of opinion was that the Churches were fall- 
ing very far short of measuring up to their op- 
portunities and of really imitating Christ's 
methods and spirit. The following letter from 
a man of large influence and prominence in the 
city will suggest the direction which many crit- 
icisms took: 

"Kev. W. F. Sheridan, Louisville Ky. : 

"My Dear Sir, — Replying seriatim to the 
interrogatories contained in your letter of the 
15th, and premising my answers with the obser- 
98 



A Plan that Reached Men. 

vation that any reply must necessarily be largely 
predicated upon one's individual observations, 
I beg to state: 

"1. In the rural districts the excess of fe- 
male over male members of the Church is not 
so marked as in the city districts. It would 
appear that the reason for this state of affairs 
in the city is due to the fact that in them Church 
influences do not reach the males because of the 
various forms of amusements, the social side of 
life with its attractions, and because men are 
so engrossed with business cares that the matter 
of their souls' salvation becomes to many a 
secondary consideration. 

"2. I no not believe that the Churches are 
effecting the work for which the Christian 
Church was established. It would seem to be 
the ambition of our local Churches, at least, to 
vie with one another in erecting the most costly, 
commodious, and fashionable buildings for 
Church worship, and to limit the attendance at 
these Churches to those of their own particular 
'set,' little or no effort having been made to 

iLofC. " 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

reach the 'low and lowly' element, which class 
vastly outnumbers the 'rich and holy' class. Can 
you imagine a poor, ragged, penniless sinner 
receiving a welcome in any of our ultra fash- 
ionable churches? . . . 

"3. The answer to the second renders un- 
necessary reply to your third question. Direct, 
intimate, personal contact with sinners, and 
heart to-heart communion with them is, in my 
judgment, the most helpful feature of Church 
life, and, I may add, the rarest. 

"Very respectfully, ." 

Classifying the replies received, we deduced 
the following subjects for the series of sermons : 

Ten Stumbling-Stones to Keligion in 
Louisville. 

1. The Kind of Eeligion that is "Played Out." 

2. Contradictions in Teaching Among the 

Churches. 

3. The Church Not Abreast of Scientific Ad- 

vance. 

4. The Hypocrites in the Church. 

100 



A Flan that Reached Men. 

5. Unsociability and Neglect of the Toilers. 

6. The Stress of Business Life and Methods. 

7. I am Good Enough Without Keligion. 

8. I am Afraid I can not Hold Out. 

9. Caught in the Swirl of Self-indulgence. 
10. I am Waiting Until I can Eeach the Stand- 
ard. 

The sermon on "The Church Eot Abreast 
of Scientific Advance" was afterwards repeated 
at the request of some physicians. Among the 
conversions were business men, professional 
men, and working men. One of the most grat- 
ifying results of the series of sermons was the 
increased interest and friendliness of many men 
in the city toward Trinity Church. 



101 



Chaptee VIII. 
HOLDING THE PEOPLE. 

"What we want is a preacher who will 
draw." 

It was the chairman of a committee on the 
lookout for a new preacher who nttered these 
words, and the rest of the committee echoed his 
sentiment — "a preacher who will draw." They 
were talking to the editor of a Chicago religious 
journal, who was supposed to be in touch with 
the leading preachers of his denomination. 
Whatever other qualities the committee men- 
tioned as they discussed the needs of the Church 
and the man whom they wanted, they always 
came back to the emphatic assertion: "What 
we want is a man that will draw." The editor 
knew the Church whose committee was before 
him, and he was a courageous man, so he re- 
102 



Holding the People. 

plied by looking at the committee very straight 
and saying: "O no, brethren! what you need 
is not a preacher that will draw, but a Church 
that will hold." 

He then went on to remind the committee of 
the multitude of strangers who had gone through 
that fashionable Church never to return. He 
was brave enough to tell them that it was the 
Church's unsociability and indifference — yea, 
selfishness — which had driven away the very 
people they were talking about getting a 
preacher to "draw." He reminded them that 
they had had opportunity to make several con- 
gregations as large as their own if they had 
been brotherly enough and unselfish enough to 
give themselves to those strangers, both in 
hearty greetings and in watch-care for their 
souls. And when that committee left that edi- 
torial sanctum they were a wiser, if a less com- 
placent committee. 

We know of a Church where a new pastor 
had succeeded in filling up the vacant benches. 
People were being converted and accessions were 
103 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

numerous. The pastor's heart was beating high 
with hope and zeal. One day he said to a ven- 
erable brother who had led in the financial man- 
agement of the Church for many years : "Well, 
Brother Blank, the Church is filling up, isn't 
it ?" There was no responsive glow in the face 
of the old man as he replied: "Yes, but who 
are these people ? We do n't know them. They 
are not our kind of people. Some of us are feel- 
ing as if we were crowded out." Had the en- 
thusiastic young pastor received a blow he 
could not have been more staggered and 
pained. He saw the handwriting on the 
wall. He knew that, notwithstanding the 
splendid success he was having, judged 
from any reasonable viewpoint, he would 
never be able to run the gauntlet of the 
fourth Quarterly Conference if the leader of 
the Church Board felt thus toward his work. 
Accordingly he began to look up his book boxes, 
and get hammer and nails ready. At Confer- 
ence-time he departed for pastures new, and the 
Church resumed its interrupted condition of 
104 



Holding the People. 

dignified isolation and graveyard loneliness 
amid the swarming multitudes of a downtown 
location. 

An Epworth League once came under our 
notice whose working force had been small for 
several years, as there were not many young 
people in the Church. The group of leaders had 
come to be fond of each other, which was very 
commendable. But when, at length, a large 
number of new converts came into the Church 
the group of "old guard" Leaguers was oblivious 
of it. When the devotional meeting or business 
session was over the same old cronies got to- 
gether for a good, jolly time, unmindful of the 
strangers and new comers who hovered wistfully 
on the periphery of the charmed circle. And 
those new comers turned away, disappointed at 
first, and then bitter, at the manifest selfish- 
ness of a company of young Christian leaders 
who were too selfish to curtail their own social 
enjoyments to make strangers feel at home 
and to articulate new members into the body 
of Christ. 

105 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

The Western Christian Advocate recently 
put the case happily, editorially : 

"We have known parishes that really imag- 
ined they were very sociable, although the pastor 
ran across perpetual complainings on the part 
of strangers that 'the Church was cold/ As a 
matter of fact the Church was excessively soci- 
able—among its own members. Little groups 
of particular friends would occupy adjacent 
pews, and, immediately after doxology and ben- 
ediction, Jones would turn and shake hands 
with Smith and remark that the sermon was 
'fine/ and Mrs. Eobinson would ask Mrs. Brown 
if she were well and how the babies were get- 
ting along. One could count a dozen little ed- 
dies of talking and smiling people throughout 
the audience. Each one was a coterie of folks 
who had known each other from time immemo- 
rial. Apparently nothing could be more socia- 
ble. But, meanwhile, that poor unfortunate, 
'the stranger within our gates/ who belonged 
to none of these 'sets/ after looking about ex- 
pectantly for a few moments, would slip out 
106 



Holding the People. 

unrecognized and ungreeted. Is it wonderful 
that the pastor found it difficult to persuade him 
to come to the church again, or to unite with its 
membership ?" 

Often the most difficult problem of a pastor 
is not to get new members into the fold, but 
to get the "elder brothers" willing to share their 
fellowship, and especially any part of the lead- 
ership, with the younger sons who have returned 
to their "Father's house." Hence the need of 
a Church that will "hold." Second in impor- 
tance only to the winning of men to Christ is 
the assimilating of them to the life of the 
Church. A wise pastor will talk frankly and 
affectionately to his people about it, emphasizing 
the necessity of a self -forgetting social ministry 
on the part of the congregation as the necessary 
complement of a self-forgetting preaching and 
pastoral ministry on the part of the pulpit, if 
people are to be permanently won to Christ. 

Of course, other factors than sociability en- 
ter into the problem of "holding the people." 
All the skillful advertising in the world and the 
107 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

acme of sociability will not wed people to a 
Church if they are not fed in any appreciable 
degree when they come. If, when they ask for 
bread, they receive only homiletical stones; if 
the preacher does not help them ; if he habitually 
fulfills less than he promises in his advertise- 
ment of the service, — he will certainly fail to 
hold the strangers who may visit his church. 
A Michigan congregation laughs after twenty- 
five years at a pastor who would make the most 
extravagant promises of what his next Sunday 
sermon would be. He was one of those brethren 
"all whose geese are swans." Yet he could never 
learn why his calling geese "swans" did not 
make them such, or why the people would not 
come out as readily to see a goose as a swan. 
The preacher who habitually puts all his goods 
in the show-window will soon lose interest for 
the public. It is only by hard, honest work 
on each week's sermons that a pastor can secure 
an enduring constituency. This phase of the 
subject will be treated more at length in a sub- 
sequent chapter. At this point we desire to em 
108 



Holding the People. 

phasize the importance of sociability in holding 
the people. 

We do not mean that perfunctory sociability 
which exhausts itself in a bow and smile and 
formal handshake. That is common enough, 
and often so manifestly artificial and insincere 
as to repel rather than attract. But real socia- 
bility will hold people. Real sociability is 
friendliness. A real interest in people — a respect- 
ful and at the same time gently persistent pur- 
pose to know them, to get into touch with their 
lives — that will win in nine cases out of ten. 
That will hold the people. For the fact is that 
people, great and small, crave sympathy. They 
are glad to meet people who take an interest in 
them. And they will go back to such a place. 
Even though they may be a little stiff them- 
selves, and not inclined to meet the Church 
worker nearly half way, yet they like friendli- 
ness just the same, and none so quickly feel its 
absence as these very persons who are slowest to 
make or respond to advances. 

We are to be interested in people, not at first 
109 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

as souls, but as .men and women. That is to 
say, it is not wise to begin to talk religion the 
first thing with strangers who come to your 
church. We are to interest ourselves in them 
first as flesh-and-blood people, — where they live, 
where they came from, what their line of busi- 
ness or work may be, the things which their 
hearts are full of. Then we may come to the 
things we want to interest them in. It is not less 
religious to do this. It is simply using Jesus's 
own method. He attended to men's outward 
needs first, and then to their souls. 

A young man comes to the city and gets a 
position. Sunday he is lonely. He misses the 
familiar friends and associations. He drops 
in at a church. He is thinking of the eight-by- 
ten room at his boarding-house, of the grind of 
work on the morrow, and of the home and 
friends he has left behind him. He is homesick 
and unhappy. He sees only strange faces at 
church. A stiff usher escorts him to a stiff seat. 
A stiff choir stands up and renders a stiff an- 
them. A stiff preacher arises and reads a stiff 
110 



Holding the People. 

sermon. And the young man goes away without 
having had a word of friendly greeting or a 
hand-clasp of sympathy. The next Sunday he 
will probably be at a theater or a saloon. Peo- 
ple are cordial and human there, at any rate. 
And so the ties are quickly formed which drag 
him down. For everything depends on who gets 
a man first when he moves to a new community. 
A man who had attended church six months 
without being greeted once, heard the minister 
preach on the "Kecognition of Friends in 
Heaven." As he went out he told the usher that 
"he would like mighty well to have a little of it 
on earth !" But, on the other hand, it is remark- 
able what friendliness will do in a congregation. 
Oftener than anything else we have heard given 
as a reason for going to a certain church: "O, 
they are so sociable over there !" If the stranger 
is greeted at the close of the service with a smile 
and a hearty handshake, and a cordial invitation 
to come back, with perhaps an inquiry as to his 
location and Church affiliations, and an invi- 
tation to some social meeting of the Church, ten 
111 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

chances to one he will come back, and often he will 
come back to stay. O, the power of a sanctified 
smile and a sympathetic hand-shake ! No music 
can exercise such a hypnotic influence. No ser- 
mon can work such wizard wonders. The cor- 
dial Church will outgrow any other kind. The 
pastor himself can do much through personal 
greetings. The pastor who stands at the door at 
the close of the service and shakes hands with the 
people as they go out, with a word of greeting 
to each, as far as possible, has created something 
of a tie between himself and them. Much as it 
is emphasized to-day, we doubt if half of our 
preachers appreciate the power there is in so- 
ciability. Other things being anything like equal, 
it is the cordial, sociable minister who will draw 
and hold people to him with much greater power 
than the unsociable man. As it is a gift that 
can be acquired, the unsociable minister ought, 
for Christ's sake, to cultivate it with all care. 
Dr. Louis Albert Banks, of New York, called 
our attention to a valuable point a few years ago ; 
namely, that strangers usually come to a church 
112 



Holding the People. 

service early, before the members arrive. If a 
pastor comes early, and greets these strangers 
one by one, he accomplishes two things : he will 
have created a tie of personal acquaintance be- 
tween the minister and his hearer; and he will 
have secured the names and addresses of people 
who are the most likely candidates for member- 
ship in his Church. 

We have found this to be true in the years 
that we have followed this plan, and the results 
have been most gratifying. We take for granted 
that every preacher carries a vest-pocket memo- 
randum, in which he enrolls the names of all 
such strangers. These persons, together with 
the names which he secures in other ways, consti- 
tute the outside constituency to whom announce- 
ments of special meetings and other literature 
relating to the work of the Church may be sent, 
and from these persons we find our roll of mem- 
bers is being constantly recruited. 



113 



Chapter IX. 
THE SOCIAL MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH. 

Of the social ministry of individual Church 
members we have spoken in the preceding chap- 
ter. Of organized social ministries by the 
Church this chapter will treat. 

The Church that does not give a reception 
or social to which non-members are invited, at 
least once a quarter, is missing one of its chief 
opportunities of Christian service. These so- 
cials should be without charge and with the 
social purpose supreme. It is a matter for con- 
gratulation that the number of Churches that 
hold pay socials is decreasing, and the number 
making the only object good fellowship and the 
promotion of acquaintance is increasing. We 
say this without presuming to pass upon the 
ethical question involved in pay socials, but 
having regard only to the influence of the gath- 
erings on those who attend. 
114 



The Social Ministry of the Church. 

Such socials may be held either at the church 
or at private homes. Occasionally, at least, they 
may most profitably be held in the homes of the 
members. Strangers usually appreciate the 
courtesy of an invitation to a private residence. 
These socials may take the form of a reception 
to young men, either by the Epworth League or 
Sunday-school ; or a reception by the men of the 
congregation to the congregation as a whole ; or 
a reception by the whole Church to new mem- 
bers and friends of the Church ; or by the Sun- 
day-school to the parents of the children of the 
Sunday-school, and so on indefinitely. In large 
Churches it is often advisable to hold these re- 
ceptions in sections ; as, for example, a reception 
to students ; another for young people away from 
home, along about Thanksgiving or Christmas; 
another for people from a given State, as for 
instance, in Louisville, a reception for "Hoos- 
iers," of whom there are great numbers in the 
Kentucky metropolis. 

These are mere hints of the ways in which a 
wide-awake social committee may vary its so- 
115 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

ciables from time to time. The chief thing 
is to see that, as far as possible, all the people 
in touch with the Church receive an invitation 
to these gatherings. They form the Church's 
field. The pastor will usually have a list of a 
hundred such people, with their addresses. Sun- 
day-school teachers will furnish the social com- 
mittee with the names and addresses of the 
parents of their pupils who are non-members. 
The names of new members of the Church not 
yet articulated into its life and work may also 
be secured. And these people will all be made 
to feel that the Church really cares for them. 
It is of primary importance, however, that 
the spirit of the Master shall animate the 
Church people at the social itself. It will re- 
quire self-sacrifice on their part to forego the 
pleasure of getting off into little groups of con- 
genial friends and talking about the many 
things they are mutually interested in, and to 
give themselves constantly to strangers who are 
hard to talk to, it may be, and uninteresting 
or unattractive. Yet it is just as real a work 
116 



The Social Ministry of the Church. 

for Christ and just as necessary as praying with 
them or getting them to unite with the Church. 

Love was the magnet of the early Christian 
Church. a How these Christians love one an- 
other!" was the exclamation that arose to the 
lips of the heathen of those days, and it was the 
strongest argument for itself which Christianity 
could furnish. And the same brotherly spirit 
will win to-day. The Church of to-day will 
have to take heed lest the lodge take its crown. 
The social feature is so strongly emphasized in 
the lodge life of many a town, and so feebly ex- 
emplified in its Churches, as that the former are 
swarming hives of activity while the latter are 
half deserted. 

The wise pastor will see that, at these recep- 
tions, there is a number of his choicest people 
pledged to give themselves to these non-members 
and new members through all the evening, else 
these will go away feeling that they have been 
neglected. So are we to become "all things to 
all men if by any means we may save some." 

When making a little visit to Hugh Price 
117 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

Hughes in London a few years ago, he told us 
of a Sunday-evening after-service of a social 
character which he was using frequently and to 
great advantage in his work at St. James Hall. 
This service was aimed particularly for the ben- 
efit of the hundreds of young men and women 
who work in the stores of West London. The 
following description from the pen of the Rev. 
Darlow Sargent, a colleague of Mr. Hughes, will 
make clear the character of the work : 

"After preaching a few weeks at the St. 
James Hall and Princes' Hall to hundreds of 
young men and women, I became possessed of 
an intense longing to get into closer touch with 
this strong young life. I knew that they were 
beset by powerful temptations, and that many 
of them, fresh from the purity of a country 
home, were in imminent danger of being 
ruined. I asked God again and again for wis- 
dom and definite guidance in this matter. One 
day, suddenly, the outline of the 'Social Hour' 
came to my mind. I found an early opportu- 
nity to lay the plan before the superintendent 
118 



The Social Ministry of the Church, 

of the Mission. He immediately saw that there 
was some good in the scheme, and gave ready- 
permission for the experiment being tried. 
Events have proved that the work and the way 
of doing it were from God. 

"The suggestion of the 'Social Hour' brought 
unspeakable relief to me. I saw how a supreme 
effort could be made by ministers, class-leaders, 
stewards, and others to get at the young people 
who were living in lodgings, or houses of busi- 
ness, whose practice it is on Sunday evenings 
to wander about the streets, where the most cun- 
ning and unsuspected temptations abound. 
About three weeks after we had begun the work, 
a gentleman said to me : 'Mr. Sargent, this "So- 
cial Hour" is of God. The most perilous two 
hours in the week for young people in London 
are those between nine and eleven on Sunday 
nights.' If any one doubts this assertion, let 
him stand in any of the great thoroughfares 
and witness the snares that are set on every 
side for their destruction. 

"The arrangements for the 'Social Hour' are 
119 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

simple. Cards bearing an invitation from the 
leaders of the Mission are given to the young 
men and women attending the services of St. 
James Hall and Princes' Hall. These cards 
are then presented at the door of Princes' Hall 
to the stewards, who stand there to give these 
young people a welcome. Tea and coffee are 
dispensed at one end of the hall. Ladies and 
gentlemen are always found ready to sing solos, 
the whole company joining heartily in the 
chorus. The leaders of the Mission are usually 
occupied in meeting cases of special difficulty, 
and in otherwise finishing the work of the in- 
quiry-room. They also strive to make the ac- 
quaintance of all present. Those who are re- 
served, diffident, and in trouble, are invariably 
sought out by the sisters (deaconesses) and oth- 
ers. Presh faces always find a hearty welcome. 
Class-leaders are busily engaged in obtaining 
new members. 

"The proceedings close with 'Family 
Prayer/ a bright, inspiring hymn, a short pas- 
sage of Scripture, and prayer. The young peo- 
120 



The Social Ministry of the Church. 

pie go forth greatly strengthened to meet life's 
difficulties by the feeling that the Church does 
care for them, and that there are friends on 
whose love and sympathy they can always rely. 
No better waters than these can be tried by 
those whom God has made fishers of men." 

There is no question in the author's mind 
but that some such methods as this are a neces- 
sity in our large cities. Some plan must be 
devised by which the people who can save and 
the people who need saving shall be brought 
into intimate contact. Of what use is the salt 
unless it touches the meat? The superlative 
need of to-day is the intimate contact of Chris- 
tian people with non-Christians under circum- 
stances that will bring out the sympathy and 
sweetness of the Gospel. Such a service as this 
used by the West London Mission has very 
much of this element in it. There is the cor- 
diality, the friendliness, the eye-to-eye conver- 
sation, the sweet-home hymns, the "Family 
Prayers," the recollections of home awakened, 
— all these are easily possible in such a service. 
121 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

The only question is one of leadership and men 
and women dead-in-earnest enough to give them- 
selves heartily to it. 

Some Christian people will be found, doubt- 
less, who would object to the refreshment phase 
of it. But in view of the importance of that 
part of it in getting hold of the kind of people 
that need reaching, and in view of the way in 
which drinking a cup of tea with people opens 
the way to fellowship with them, this objection 
is not valid. It is lawful to do good on the 
Sabbath-day. 

In this connection we may say that the Man-* 
Chester Central Hall workers have their evening 
lunch together every Sunday evening between 
their afternoon and evening services. It saves 
a long trip home for many of them, and in- 
creases the spirit of fellowship. As the author 
sat down with these workers he could but think 
of the Christian Agape or Love-feast of the 
Apostolic Church. 



122 



Chapter X. 

SPECIAL FEATURES FOR THE DOWN-TOWN 
CHURCH. 

The perplexity of bishops, the despair of 
presiding elders, the heartache of pastors, the 
"white elephant" of Boards of Trustees, — all 
this, and more, is the average down-town city 
Church. 

The city has moved up-town. The neigh- 
borhood has changed completely. The hand- 
some residences are few. Boarding-houses with 
a faded-gentility look multiply. The houses 
that used to hold one family each, now do serv- 
ice for several. Roomers are legion. Students, 
artisans, clerks, day-laborers, and people whose 
business is such as that they are compelled to 
remain down-town, — these make up the chang- 
ing neighborhood of the down-town Church. 

Many of the pillars of the Church are gone, 
123 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

either to heaven or to up-town Churches. Only 
a few of the "old guard" are left. Happy is 
that Church if it have a nucleus of strong, 
substantial, permanent residents remaining, 
around whom the kaleidoscopic mass of tran- 
sients may revolve. For the essential charac- 
teristic of the down-town constituency is its 
mutability. The preacher preaches to a pro- 
cession. 

To meet these peculiar conditions requires 
peculiar alertness and special methods. These 
must be adapted to the new constituency. Many 
a Church of this sort has died because it did 
not fulfill that fundamental law of life — adap- 
tation to environment. 

To keep up an establishment keyed to the 
tastes of the wealthy and fastidious when the 
constituency is middle and lower-middle class, 
is to "bay the moon." Indeed, the attempt to 
do so, without the financial resources of a fash- 
ionable Church, results in a doubly heavy and 
dreary service, which the new constituency 
avoid as they would a pestilence. Pew-rents are 
124 



Special Features for the Down-Town Church. 

as fatal as arsenic. Quartet choirs are peril- 
ous. A heavy ritual requires prompt and heroic 
antidotes. 

On the other hand, "slum" methods will 
not work. They would be resented instantly. 
Our methods must be adapted to self-respecting, 
fairly-intelligent people. And those methods 
have been found and put into practice by our 
English Wesleyan brethren in Manchester, 
London, and elsewhere. And they have re- 
ceived the seal of success in the Metropolitan 
Temple work of E"ew York and in other cities 
in this country, with, of course, such variations 
in use as our own conditions suggest. 

As we have already indicated, social meth- 
ods must be strongly emphasized. Young peo- 
ple form the chief part of the constituency of 
the down-town Church. They board, and they 
move often. They are here this month, and 
gone the next, unless there is a strong tie to 
bind them to this locality. That the Church 
must furnish. It can do it, as we have seen 
illustrated in scores of cases. These young peo- 
125 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

pie have only fragments of social life in their 
boarding places. Every one is strange. They 
are forced out of their boarding places by nar- 
row walls and broad odors and the constant fear 
of stepping on somebody. Here is the Church's 
opportunity. It can get nearly every evening 
of these young people's time, to its own and their 
own vast profit. So intense is the competition 
for these lives by places of godless amusement 
that it is coming to this: either the Church 
must get practically all their time out of work- 
ing hours, or it will get none. If the Church 
is silent and deserted four or Hve nights a week, 
these youth will drift into the grip of the mael- 
stroms of evil which are ingulfing so many lives 
in the great cities. 

Not only must the social life be strong to 
meet these peculiar difficulties of the down-town 
Church, but the down-town Church should be 
educational. Its work should embrace educa- 
tional departments, unless local Young Men's 
and Young Women's Christian Associations are 
fully reaching its constituency. The Church 
126 



Special Features for the Down-Town Church. 

deals with very many whose early training has 
been abridged. Well-to-do families in the resi- 
dence districts can give their children a good 
education. !Not so with these bread-winners, 
young and old, who form the constituency of 
the down-town Church. Their only opportunity 
for self-improvement is at night. Of course, 
there are secular night-schools. But the same 
considerations that lead the Church to keep up 
denominational colleges apply to the education 
of our own young people in the cities. We want 
them under Christian influences. Moreover, 
it is certain that the Church will have to fur- 
nish, not only the opportunity, but the inspira- 
tion to study, for most of these young people. 

Night-classes in various studies — such as 
book-keeping, typewriting, telegraphy, short- 
hand, etc., and Reading College work, where 
each student is bound to read a certain number 
of volumes of history, biography, travel, popular 
science, etc. — will indicate the direction of this 
work. 

The down-town Church should be a center 
127 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

of charitable activities. It will not supplant, 
but co-operate with, the local charity organiza- 
tion. It adds to the latter's rather mechanical 
service the sympathy and spiritual aid of per- 
sonal ministration. "The gift without the 
giver is bare/' as far as lifting the helped one 
to a higher plane is concerned. Here the work 
of the visiting deaconess is invaluable. In the 
city of Detroit their work in this direction was 
so marked that when the police of the city gave 
an entertainment a few years ago for charity, 
they put the proceeds of it in the hands of our 
Methodist deaconesses there for distribution, as 
the most efficient helpers of the poor in that city. 
The successful and truly useful down-town 
Church will show a real interest in the industrial 
questions. This, not only because the Methodist 
Church has the largest number of working peo- 
ple in its membership of any Protestant Church, 
but because that which occupies so large a share 
of the life of the great majority of the people 
Christ came to save can never be a matter of 



128 



Special Features for the Down-Town Church. 

indifference to the organization that is to carry 
on his work. If Moses was impelled by Divine 
inspiration to enact so many laws to protect 
the poor, to prevent the absorption by the few 
of the patrimony of the many, and to provide 
for the harmonious adjustment of the relations 
of employers and employees, it is deserving of 
the serious and patient attention of the represent- 
atives of the Divine law to-day. If the proph- 
ets felt called to warn their nation again and 
again of these dangers, it certainly behooves the 
Christian Church, in the most materialistic age 
the world has seen, to apply the ethics of Christ 
to these living issues. Yet no work has to be 
done with more guarded care or more disinter- 
ested love. 

There is no danger of the secularization of 
the Church by thus broadening the sphere of 
its work, provided it keeps a heart of fire by 
constant evangelism. If our Methodism will 
only dare large things for God, and not be afraid 
of the new methods which the ever-creative 



129 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

Spirit of life is growing, and will always be 
growing, to meet the need of new conditions, we 
shall see the gloomy, half-deserted down-town 
Churches aflame with a new light and warmth, 
and throbbing with the joyous activities of a new 
and diviner life. 



130 



Chapter XL 
CONTINUOUS EVANGELISM. 

Beaes hibernate in the winter; Churches 
in the summer. In fact, as far as the work of 
soul-winning is concerned, most Churches hiber- 
nate during all the year except the month of 
"the revival." We Methodists satirize our 
Episcopalian friends for confining their re- 
ligious zeal to the Lenten season ; but do we not 
lay ourselves open to the same criticism by con- 
fining our soul-winning activities to the "re- 
vival?" 

Many pastors look forward to the winter 
revival as their one star of hope. All the 
Church's distempers and weaknesses are to be 
*"\ \ healed thenl. Quarrels are to be settled, debts 
extinguished, and lethargy galvanized into 
abounding activity by the revival. 

Other pastors look forward to it with dread. 
131 



The Sunday -Night Service. 

To them it means anxiety, struggle, mental and 
spiritual depression, and uncertain benefits. 
And when their winter's "meetings" are over, 
they feel the same sense of relief that our ritual- 
istic friends enjoy when Easter bells ring and 
they are relieved from the obligation of being 
"good." It has become a yoke, a legalistic bond, 
which they are reluctant to throw off for fear of 
censure. 

How largely this latter feeling as to revivals 
is responsible for the employment of evangelists 
we do not attempt to say. But we will affirm 
that both these classes of brethren take a mis- 
taken view of the revival. The former overrate 
its value, the latter underrate it. It has its 
place — and its important place, too — in the 
economy of the Church. It is in harmony with 
the constitution of the human mind, and of 
human society, and it bears the stamp of pro- 
phetic and apostolic sanction, as well as the 
equally Divine seal of successful use through 
centuries of human history. 

But the disappointments and evils of revivals 
132 



Continuous Evangelism. 

arise from their spasmodic character. They are 
so often like those sudden storms which travel- 
ers in Northern Africa tell of: the flood comes 
sweeping down the dry bed of the river, filling 
it bank-full, but it soon spends itself, and the 
old barrenness returns. A revival should bear 
the same relation to the all-the-year-round work 
of the Church that the spring freshet bears to 
the perennial flow of the Ohio or Mississippi — 
an augmentation of its regular capacity and serv- 
iceableness. And such it is in those Churches 
which practice continuous evangelism. 

Is it not true that our Churches have been 
miseducated at this point ? Whether we have 
borrowed from our Calvinistic friends the idea 
that revivals are the sovereign gifts of God, and 
hence that we may expect the salvation of souls 
only when he is pleased graciously to pour out 
his Spirit; or whether we have come to rely 
wholly upon revivals for the conversion of souls 
because our fathers' ministry was specially 
blessed in this form of service; or whether the 
cause is something other than these, — the fact 
133 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

remains that the majority of our Churches do 
not expect and do not have conversions at all 
seasons of the year, but only in the time of 
special meetings. 

A young Baptist pastor asked Mr. Spurgeon 
why he (the young minister) was not able to 
secure conversions in his regular services. 

"Why!" exclaimed the eminent Baptist, 
"you do not expect to have people converted 
every Sunday, do you?" 

"0 no, of course not !" replied the young 
man. 

"That is the reason you do not have it," said 
Mr. Spurgeon. "I expect it, and so I get it." 

Dr. T. L. Cuyler, who places so much" em- 
phasis on constant soul-winning, tells of Mr. 
Spurgeon once asking him to what extent the 
chief American preachers aimed at the conver- 
sion of souls in their regular services. The 
question was put in such a way as to indicate 
that he considered our eminent pulpiteers de- 
relict in this important regard. ~Ho preacher 
of modern times had a more fruitful ministry 
134 



Continuous Evangelism. 

than Charles H. Spurgeon, and the very back- 
bone of his success was his continuous 
evangelism. 

We are very well aware that a considerable 
number of ministers — especially those making 
pretensions to culture, although often it is only 
an affectation of culture — habitually minimize 
a soul-winning ministry, affecting to believe, 
or perhaps sincerely believing, that its results 
are ephemeral and non-ethical; that it is emo- 
tional and undignified; and that only men of 
lesser caliber engage in it. We once heard a 
minister of this class speak contemptuously of 
the work of William Taylor. Yet that hero 
of the cross left his impress on four continents 
in missions, Conferences, and Churches organ* 
ized as the result of his ministry, while the su- 
percilious critic has been unable for fifteen years 
to hold a pulpit of influence in the Church, 
though in the prime of his powers, because he 
had so conspicuously failed in building up the 
Churches committed to his charge. The men 
who are preaching the Gospel of culture as the 
135 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

cure of the world's deep hurt grow very merry 
over the extravagances and crudities of the re- 
vivalistic preachers, but an analysis of their 
congregations will usually show that, if it were 
not for these "crude" evangelistic preachers, 
their congregations would soon die away, in 
spite of the "enriched liturgies" of their services 
and "enlarged phylacteries" of their robes, for 
they are mainly recruited by letters from the 
Churches with evangelistic pastors. 

Let no one suppose for a moment that the 
author decries real culture. He has no word of 
excuse for that intellectual laziness which makes 
pounding the Bible and crying "hallelujah" a 
substitute for honest brain-sweat in sermon prep- 
aration. Nor does he belong to those who think 
that God can use man's ignorance more effec- 
tively than his knowledge. On the contrary, 
he is profoundly convinced of the necessity of 
the most thorough preparation of the minister 
for his work, both in college and seminary, and, 
if possible, by post-graduate study and travel. 
We consider it of primary importance that the 
136 



Continuous Evangelism. 

minister should keep in sympathetic touch with 
the scientific advances of his times, keeping his 
mind open to all new truth from whatever 
source it comes, whether God's Book of Nature 
or God's Book of Prophecy. But we do insist 
that all culture — the broadest and rarest and 
highest — is but a preparation for the Christian 
to make him the more efficient winner of men 
to God. He does insist that culture and spir- 
ituality, not only may go together, but are 
meant to go together. They are married in 
heaven, and should never be divorced on earth. 
John Wesley was not only abreast of the schol- 
arship of his generation, but in many regards 
was a century ahead of his generation. Yet 
he did not consider it undignified and crude to 
exhort men to repentance and to yield imme- 
diately to the claims of God. Hugh Price 
Hughes, who did more to renew the youth of 
Methodism in England than any man of the 
nineteenth century, was educated at Oxford. 
He tells us that when he left college, he, in 
common with his fellow-students, entirely dis- 
137 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

counted evangelism, and was bent on making his 
reputation as a scholarly preacher. But when 
it pleased God to make one of his sermons at 
-Dover, his first change, instrumental in the 
conversion of a score of persons, he had his eyes 
opened to the real significance of the ministry 
and the true dignity of preaching. We quote 
his own words : 

"The result of that sermon changed my 
whole career. I was called upon to decide 
whether I would follow my literary ambitions 
or seek the salvation of souls. But I had tasted 
a new joy, and I chose the salvation of men. 
It was like turning the switch on a railway. 
It sent me on the evangelistic line, and I have 
been running on it ever since." 

This new joy of Mr. Hughes reminds us 
of those words of Samuel Kutherford, that 
great preacher of the Scotch pulpit of the sev- 
enteenth century: "It is my heaven on earth 
to spend my days in gathering in some souls 
to Christ." And those words also of our Amer- 
ican Nestor of the pulpit, Dr. Cuyler: "There 
138 



Continuous Evangelism. 

is no ecstasy this side of heaven comparable to 
that of winning souls to a new life and to the 
life everlasting." 

All a preacher's sermons need not be horta- 
tory in order to produce evangelistic results. 
In nearly every audience of any size there are 
people hungry for the grace of God. Souls are 
being ripened for decision all the time. God's 
providences and the Holy Spirit are doing the 
work. We ministers face men and women every 
week to whom God has been speaking far more 
powerfully than we can speak. They have been 
undergoing sorrows or reverses, or they have 
been through illness, or they have had letters 
announcing the death of dear ones, or they have 
had epistles from loved ones pleading with them 
to turn to Christ, or they have had sacred mem- 
ories revived by passing events; all these, or 
some of these, have been ringing in their souls, 
like alarm-bells, the call of God, and they are 
on the verge of decision. Our sermon may not 
be directly evangelistic. We may have spoken 
without freedom. Our impulse is to close the 
139 



The Sunday-Night Service 

service at once. Yet many a time under just 
such conditions we have given the invitation to 
those who wished to accept Christ, and that 
invitation has been responded to by one or more 
souls. God had been preparing them for that 
hour. And we, by our lack of faith, had al- 
most frustrated God's plan. "He that observ- 
eth the wind shall not sow, and he that regard- 
eth the clouds shall not reap." Only he shall 
both sow and reap who goes constantly forward, 
believing in the constancy of God's laws of spir- 
itual harvest. 

When the author entered the ministry, a con- 
secrated and talented Christian woman, a life- 
long friend and. herself an evangelist of unusual 
power — Mrs. L. O. Robinson, of Indianapolis, 
Ind. — said : "My boy, always cast out the net. 
Expect God to give you results, and he will do 
it." It was a new idea to the young preacher ; 
for he did not recall having ever seen an in- 
vitation given to seekers except in a series of 
revival-meetings. Yet he ventured to try it, 
tremblingly at first, lest the impotence of his 
140 



Continuous Evangelism. 

preaching should be made manifest to all — may 
it not be a feeling of this sort that keeps many 
a man from giving an invitation to seekers? — 
but what was his joy to find an immediate re- 
sponse in the turning of sinners to God. From 
that time until the present with occasional ex- 
ceptions, he has made an appeal to the unsaved 
for immediate decision at the Sunday-night serv- 
ice. In at least three-fourths of the Sunday 
evenings there have been requests for prayer, 
and in nearly half of these cases there have 
been conversions. 

Two results follow continuous evangelism: 
First, sinners are being constantly converted 
and brought into the Church ; second, the Church 
itself is kept in a vital spiritual condition. It 
does not languish and become moribund. Where 
members are liable to be called on at any serv- 
ice to pray for penitents and to furnish light 
for darkened spirits, they are more apt to keep 
their own lamps trimmed and burning. The 
spiritual aim of the Church is thus kept upper- 
most, both before the eyes of the Church and of 
141 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

the world; and non-Church members can not 
say, "Eo man cared for my soul." 

We may add that outsiders are drawn to 
a Church where conversions are liable to take 
place at any service, for men like to go to a 
place where something is happening all the 
time. 



142 



Chapter XII. 

A RECENT QUARTER OF CONTINUOUS 
EVANGELISM. 

As an illustration of how continuous evan- 
gelism works we give the following notes of a 
quarter's work recently completed: 

Sunday Night, November 2, 1902. — 
Preached on "The Gambling Devil," one of 
a series on "Six Modern Devils." Three seek- 
ers forward. Came out and knelt at the altar 
in the presence of a large audience. One of the 
seekers, a young insurance agent, handsome as 
Apollo, pierced to the heart over his gambling 
and some other dissipations. He did not "get 
through." Two young people united with the 
Church on probation. 

November 9th. — Sermon on the "Liquor 
Devil." Made no call to the altar, but several 
raised the hand for prayer. Three joined the 
143 



The Sunday -Night Service, 

Church on probation. Found a young married 
man under conviction. Had spent the after- 
noon in card-playing. Half a dozen of our peo- 
ple and his Christian wife remained behind 
with him, and we prayed with him and in- 
structed him until his faith took hold, and he 
was happily converted. Both he and his wife 
united with the Church a little later. 

November 16th. — Preached on "The Greed- 
for-Gold Devil." Held altar service. The 
young insurance man and his wife were among 
those at the altar. Happily converted, and both 
united with the Church on probation. Several 
others were blessed also. 

November 23d. — Preached on "The Relig- 
ion Men are Discarding." One young married 
man came to the altar and professed conversion. 
United with the Church, as did his wife also, 
a little later. 

November 30th. Sermon on "Cutting, to 
Pieces His Father's Bible." One young mar- 
ried woman came to the altar and was con- 
verted. Joined the Church on probation. 
144 



A Recent Quarter of Continuous Evangelism. 

December 7th. — Preached on "The Great- 
est Stumbling Stone to Eeligion is the Sinful- 
ness of the Jleart." Several seekers came for- 
ward. Three accessions on probation. Two 
men and one woman. 

December 14th. — Preached on "The Church 
Not Abreast of Scientific Advance of Society." 
(Eepeated by request.) No seekers or acces- 
sions. 

December 21st. — A visiting brother preached 
— an evangelist. One conversion in an after- 
service — a bright young lad. 

December 28th. — Preached on "Things to 
Be Porgotten." No altar service, but found 
at close of service that an agnostic physician and 
medical college professor was present and un- 
der conviction. He had been attending the 
services for some weeks, and we had had two 
or three conversations with him, touching sci- 
entific difficulties to faith. Had loaned him 
Dr. W. L. Watkinson's "Bane and Antidote," 
and Horace Bushnell's "Character of Jesus" 
had been loaned to him by one of our Chris- 
10 145 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

tian physicians. His parents before him had 
been infidels, and had died such. To-night he 
felt that his infidelity was gone, and he was 
ready to accept Christ. We repaired with him 
and a Christian physician to a side room, and 
there talked and prayed until the light came to 
the seeking man. On the following Sunday he 
united with the Church on probation. Being 
a graduate of two universities and talented, this 
physician's conversion has excited wide com- 
ment and exerted a most beneficial influence, 
especially in the medical college in which he 
is a professor. 

January 4th. — Sermon on "The Program of 
the Church for 1903." No call for seekers, but 
in response to the question whether any desired 
the prayers of the Church, several hands were 
raised. Several of us staid behind to pray with 
one who raised his hand — a man of middle life 
whose wife had been compelled to leave him on 
account of his dissipation. He struggled with 
groanings and tears for deliverance, and at 



146 



A Recent Quarter of Continuous Evangelism. 

length was happily blessed. Has remained true 
since then, and united with the Church. 

January 11th. — Preached on "Are You 
Building Temples or Babels?" ~No altar serv- 
ice, but a lady remained to be prayed with, who 
had for several years been a skeptic; until 
within a few weeks had not been inside of a 
church for years. She accepted Christ, and 
found peace at this service; united with the 
Church on probation. 

January 18th. — Preached on "The Passive 
Christ." !No results visible. 

January 25th. — Sermon on "The Tempta- 
tions of Louisville Students." Seven young 
men and one young women came to the altar in 
the presence of an audience of a thousand. Sev- 
eral were blessed, and two united with the 
Church on probation. 



147 



Chapter XIII. 

THE DIRECT APPEAL. 

Dr. G. Campbell Morgan is quoted as de- 
claring that this generation of preachers has 
lost the art of exhortation. It is probable that 
this applies to the more pretentious pulpits only. 
In many lesser ones there is too much exhor- 
tation for the substance back of it, like a small 
kite with a large tail. Such a kite and such a 
sermon do not soar. What is more empty and 
dreary than reiterated exhortation, that has not 
had the way paved for it by honest exegesis and 
argument? It is like a man whom you have 
never met inviting himself home to dinner with 
you. "Perhaps the art of the orator is nowhere 
more visible than in the skill with which, in the 
conclusion, he presses his theme upon the af- 
fections and will of the hearer. If vehemence 
is too prolonged, it defeats itself. If this ex- 
148 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

hortation goes beyond proper limits, it not only 
fatigues but disgusts the mind of the auditor. 
. . . It is safer to overdo the address to the 
understanding than the address to the feelings. 
The understanding is a cool and sensible fac- 
ulty, and good sense never disgusts it. But the 
feelings are both shy and excitable. Addressed 
too boisterously, they make their retreat. Ad- 
dressed too continually, they lose their tone and 
sensibility altogether." (Dr. W. G. T. Shedd, 
in his "Homiletics and Pastoral Theology.") 
Sound exegesis and argument must precede effi- 
cient exhortation. But given that, and a ser- 
mon without direct appeal, sinks to a lower 
plane than a good oration or court argument, 
for these aim at carrying the will as well as con- 
vincing the understanding. 

Dr. James Stalker says: a We make im- 
pressions, but we do not follow them up to see 
that the decision is arrived at and the work of 
God accomplished; and so they are dissipated 
by the influences of the world, and those who 
have experienced them are perhaps made worse 
149 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

instead of better. It is a very significant thing 
that is said of the pastor in our Lord's parable, 
that he sought the lost sheep 'until he found 
it.' We seek; we even seek laboriously and 
painfully; but we frequently leave off just be- 
fore finding." ("The Preacher and His Mod- 
els.") 

As Dr. Stalker intimates in the passage 
quoted, there is such a thing as the recoil of the 
soul from feeling that does not ultimate in 
action. When the mind clearly apprehends 
duty, but does not follow it up by immediate 
action, it does violence to itself, reaction sets 
in, and it begins to lose the power either to feel 
or apprehend the truth. "And the last state 
of that man is worse than the first." 

Right at this point, therefore, is a funda- 
mentally important part of the preacher's work : 
he must make an appeal to the men before him 
for immediate decision. He must show them 
the danger of trifling with convictions. He 
must throw his will into the evenly-balancing 
scales and bring a decision. Men will evade a 
150 



The Direct Appeal. 

decision as long as they can. It is human na- 
ture to do so. Men will remain passive under 
the strongest presentation of the truth, who, if 
pressed for an immediate decision then and 
there, will decide for God. Phillips Brooks's 
definition of real preaching is "the bringing of 
truth through personality." Here, more than 
at any other point in the sermon, is where the 
personality of the preacher becomes most pow- 
erful. If he will dare to throw the full weight 
of his personality into an appeal for immediate 
decision, he will overwhelm irresolution and the 
balance of opposing forces in the hearers' hearts, 
and secure action again and again. We contend 
that this is as much a part of the preacher's 
function as the clear and faithful presentation 
of the Word. Nor has a minister done his full 
duty by his congregation, nor will he stand ac- 
quitted before God, until he throws the full 
weight of his will into the effort to secure, yea, 
to compel, an immediate decision for Christ. 
And the full weight of his personality has not 
been brought to bear until he has brought his 
151 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

will to bear upon the will of the hearer to se- 
cure instant submission to God. 

The preachers of early Methodism were not 
always great theologians, although they would 
compare favorably with the best to-day in a real 
knowledge of Biblical theology; nor were they 
often correct and graceful speakers, but they 
were tremendous exhorters. It is a matter for 
profound regret that this note has dropped out 
of the preaching of to-day to so large an extent, 
especially out of the preaching of our more cul- 
tivated men. Is it from fear of offending ? Is 
it considered bad form ? Or is it believed that 
the intelligence of the hearers will lead them 
to make their own application and take appro- 
priate action? From whatever cause, it is a 
serious mistake, and results in losing half the 
effects of our preaching. We are confident that 
half the people who have been brought to Christ 
during our ministry would not have yielded if 
they had not been pressed at the moment to im- 
mediate decision. 

The direct appeal should not be reserved en- 
152 



The Direct Appeal. 

tirely until the close of the sermon. While it 
should be the climax, yet two considerations de- 
mand subordinate applications and appeals ear- 
lier in the discourse: 

(1) The fact that the interest of the con- 
gregation is better sustained by so doing. 

(2) The fact that the time to drive home 
truth to the conscience, and appeal to the will, 
is when a point has been just completed and is 
fresh in the hearer's mind. It is not always the 
last hook on the trot-line that catches the fish. 

While warning may appropriately constitute 
a part of an appeal, yet the dominant note 
should be a tender one. It is with an audience 
as with an individual, — any suggestion of a 
lack of sympathy will cut the nerve of influ- 
ence. The same care has to be taken to avoid 
giving needless offense. The student of Paul 
knows what courtesy he invariably showed those 
whom he addressed, and what pains he took to 
conciliate their feelings and prejudices. He 
avoided any assumption of superiority; as, for 
example, when he wrote to the Eomans : "I long 
153 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

to see you, that I may impart unto you some 
spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established ; 
that is, that I with you may be comforted in 
you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours 
and mine." Nevertheless, when occasion re- 
quired, Paul did not hesitate to use rebuke, and 
his exhortations had all the directness that the 
employment of the second person could give 
them. 



154 



Chaptee XIV. 
CASTING THE NET. 

At the risk of "carrying coals to Newcastle" 
we give, in some detail, the methods used by us 
in casting the net at the close of the sermon. 
We do so because we have been asked as to these 
methods repeatedly in Preachers' Meetings. 

Uniformity of methods is to be avoided. 
Variety is the soul of interest, and therefore of 
effectiveness. The tactful pastor will accord- 
ingly vary his methods as much as possible. 

One method we use more frequently than 
any other to secure an expression from those 
who are interested in their soul's needs ; that is, 
to ask the congregation to bow their heads in 
prayer at the close of the sermon, and then, be- 
fore vocal prayer is offered, we ask those who 
desire the prayers of the Church to indicate it 
by an uplifted hand. We consider this method 
155 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

preferable to rising because less public and less 
embarrassing, and because, by frequent exper- 
iment, we have found that it produces the best 
results. 

The particular phrasing of the invitation 
will depend on the subject and treatment of the 
sermon. In the brief prayer that follows, the 
persons who have asked for prayer are very 
earnestly prayed for. 

After that, the mode of procedure varies. 
Sometimes we hold an after-meeting, inviting 
all who care to do so to remain, especially those 
who have indicated a desire to become Chris- 
tians. Then, with forty or fifty persons con- 
stituting the audience, either personal conversa- 
tion or an altar service becomes easy. In thus 
dismissing the main congregation, it is best to 
have an understanding with some Christian 
workers to be on the lookout for those who raise 
their hands for prayer, and to invite them to 
remain for the after-meeting, else in the exit 
of the main body of the congregation, they will 
be swept away with them, through timidity or 
156 



Casting the Net. 

other causes. Often we do not dismiss the audi- 
ence, but ask those who must go to slip out 
during the singing of a hymn. Mr. Moody 
counts this method wisest. Sometimes we ask 
simply those who have requested prayer to re- 
main behind after the dismissal of the audience, 
that the pastor may have a few words with them. 
In that case we have a half-dozen choice workers 
remain also, in order to help by their prayers 
and counsel in case the inquirers are willing to 
tarry as seekers. Some of our best results are 
secured in this way. 

When the feeling in the congregation ap- 
pears to be particularly strong, we use more he- 
roic measures, and invite seekers to come 
forward in the presence of all, in the old-fash- 
ioned way. It requires a good deal of convic- 
tion for people to be willing to do this, yet 
it is frequently successful. As an object-lesson 
to the indifferent or thoughtless it is of no small 
value. Frequently, before making such an in- 
vitation to the unconverted, we call a half- 
dozen or more choice Christian workers forward 
157 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

about the altar, calling them out by name before 
the congregation. This is done for two reasons : 
First, to have some persons of the right sort at 
the altar to pray with and instruct the inquir- 
ers; and, second, to encourage those who have 
asked for prayer to go forward in that open way. 
If the invitation is for all who will to come for- 
ward about the altar, the probability is that 
either so many Christian people will come as to 
hinder the work, and with them some undesir- 
able workers, or that the Christians will be slow 
in responding, and thus dampen the convictions 
of the inquirers. By calling on a number of 
workers by name, prompt action is secured, and 
a desirable class of workers as well. 

By way of varying the invitations we some- 
times ask those who have been Christians for 
a certain length of time — a year, or five years, 
etc. — to come about the altar, and then the in- 
vitation to seekers. Sometimes we do not give 
an invitation to seekers to come to the altar, but 
ask those who purpose to lead a new life, and 
are willing to confess that purpose, to come for- 
158 



Casting the Net. 

ward and give the pastor the hand. When 
they do so, we ask each one, as we shake hands 
with him, if he is willing to remain for a brief 
season of prayer, in which case he takes his place 
at the front pew until such prayers begin. 
Usually we have found them willing to remain, 
after having broken the ice by coming that far. 
If not, we do not use urgency, but keep faith 
with them, and allow them to return unembar- 
rassed to their places in the audience. 

A tactful pastor can enlarge upon these 
plans indefinitely, working almost numberless 
varieties of combinations for the securing of 
immediate results. One thing, however, we 
always guard, — the giving needless embar- 
rassment by employing sharp turns or tricks. 
When a lad we saw a prominent minister ask all 
his congregation to stand at the close of his ser- 
mon. They did so. He then asked all Chris- 
tians to sit down. This, of course, left all non- 
Christians standing — a painfully embarrassing 
position, as the flushed countenances of many 
bore witness. That minister no doubt meant 
159 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

well; but lie violated the law of courtesy, and 
took advantage of his audience, who were, in a 
sense, his guests. The only result was to alien- 
ate them from him and from his message. 

The whole matter of "voting" has been so 
overdone by prof essional • evangelists as to have 
fallen into disrepute in the better class of con- 
gregations. It is a question whether it can be 
profitably employed, except under peculiar con- 
ditions. Whether ever employed or not, one 
thing is certain: the pastor must consider the 
effect, not only upon that service, but on future 
services, as to whether the people he wishes to 
reach will return or not, and whether they will 
feel that unfair advantage has been taken of 
them. The law of Christian courtesy will solve 
the problem for any particular service. It 
seems to us that the Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman 
combines in a happy degree evangelical aggres- 
siveness with a fine courtesy. The effect is seen 
in the influence he exerts on all classes of 
people. 

"Do you send workers out into the congrega- 
160 



Casting the Net. 

tion?" we have been asked. We reply in the 
negative. If the leader gives a general invi- 
tation to workers to go out into the congrega- 
tion to do personal work, it is pretty certain 
that some will go who will do more harm than 
good. The most zealous are by no means al- 
ways the most helpful. We frequently have an 
understanding with some of our most winsome 
workers, however, that they are to be scattered 
throughout the audience, to the rear, and when 
a hand is raised for prayer, near them, they 
are to see the person and invite him to accom- 
pany them to the altar or the inquiry-room, as 
the case may be. 

For revival work the plan of Dr. C. W. 
Blodgett, of Cincinnati, is as complete and ef- 
fective as any we know of. He divides his au- 
dience-room into sections, with a captain over 
each section. These sections are subdivided, 
with a worker in each subdivision. And over 
the whole is a captain-in-chief, who gives di- 
rections, hears reports at meetings of the 
workers, makes report of special cases to the 
11 161 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

pastor, etc. This plan has the value not only 
of reaching all those who may ask for prayers, 
but of keeping a large number of Church work- 
ers actively employed, which is one of the most 
valuable things in Christian work. 

Persistence is a prerequisite to success in 
a soul-winning service. Almost any service can 
be made fruitful by a wise and persistent leader. 
We give up too easily. We are discouraged 
if there is not an immediate response to our 
appeal, and are ready to "sing the doxology 
and pronounce the benediction." We do not un- 
derstand the laws of the human mind. The 
fact is, that men frequently resist the first and 
even second invitation who are having hard 
work to keep in their seats. The thing for a 
pastor to do is to try another tack, and gently 
persist. We have again and again seen appar- 
ently hopeless services transformed into glorious 
victories by tactful persistence on the part of 
the leader. 

If they will not arise for prayer or lift the 
hand, perhaps they will acknowledge their pur- 
162 



Casting the Net. 

pose at some time to live a Christian life. And 
even that much of an expression will help 
them, and will lead to something more. If they 
are not willing to seek salvation, they may be 
willing to seek light as to what is their duty. 
If they are not willing to yield then to God, they 
may be willing to pray that they may be made 
willing. The resourceful pastor will find many 
ways of getting at the soul which is fortifying 
itself in its resistance to the truth. 

The last thing a preacher should ever do is 
to get mad — to become impatient in tone or 
word or movement. How easy it is, under the 
strain of anxiety and in the face of the obdu- 
racy of souls, to get angry and scold! Let 
that be the very last thing he does, and let him 
be sure that that is after he has pronounced the 
benediction and put on his hat to go home. 
Then it will drive no one away from God, and 
harden no one's heart against his future mes- 
sages. Now, as in Paul's day, we are to be "apt 
to teach, patient, in meekness instructing them 
that oppose themselves." 
163 



Chapter XV. 
THE PERSONAL TOUCH. 

Dr. Thodore L. Cuyler once said of the 
three thousand souls brought into Church mem- 
bership under his ministry, "I have handled 
every stone." The minister or other Chris- 
tian worker who fails to touch men as indi- 
viduals, fails, for the greater part, in reaching 
them at all. Occasionally there is a conver- 
sion during the delivery of the gospel message. 
But the vast majority require personal dealing 
with before they are able to apprehend the 
nature of repentance and faith, or, at least, 
are able to take those all-important steps. Either 
in the after-meeting, or at the altar, or pri- 
vately, we must deal with aroused souls one by 
one before they are brought into the liberty 
of the sons of God. 

In all Mr. Moody's work the hand-to-hand 
164 



The Personal Touch. 

"work of the inquiry-room was deemed of the 
most crucial importance. There the supreme 
difficulties of the soul were grappled with. 
There Henry Drummond developed his remark- 
able powers of Christian instruction. Mr. 
Moody's inquiry-rooms were his drill-ground 
for his rare gifts as an expositor and illumina- 
tor of spiritual truths, as well as the scene of 
some of his greatest evangelical victories. 

The power of the personal touch is being in- 
creasingly recognized by all who deal with in- 
quirers, especially the more thoughtful class of 
inquirers. Nearly all preachers who attempt soul- 
winning work among students, for example, have 
certain hours of the day when students may call 
on them and open their hearts as to their spir- 
itual needs. We found this method very help- 
ful in a series of meetings recently held for the 
students of a Western college. Some of the 
best work of the meetings was done in the 
heart-to-heart talk with the students in the pri- 
vacy of our consultation-room. 

The ministry of Jesus magnified the per- 
165 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

sonal touch. "Much of the Gospels is taken 
up with conversations between Christ and in- 
dividuals. Teaching so startling and difficult 
as his, with such an element of attraction and 
hope, naturally drew around him many who 
sought to know further what this Gospel meant. 
He, on his part, was as eager to meet inquir- 
ers as they were to seek him ; and we find that 
he bestowed as much care and pains in ex- 
pounding the nature of his kingdom to indi- 
viduals as he did when he was speaking to great 
multitudes. The audience, if small, was fit. 
!Not only so, but we find that he put himself 
in the way of individuals." (Mcoll, in "The 
Incarnate Savior.") 

~Nor was it always a man of the rank of 
a Nicodemus or a Nathanael that he tarried 
with. He was as ready to pour out the wealth 
of his wisdom and personality on a Zaccheus 
and on an outcast Samaritan woman as on the 
leader of Jewish society. The Book of Mark 
might be appropriately called "The Gospel of 
the Personal Touch," for no less than nine times 
166 



The Personal Touch. 

does Mark speak of Jesus as dealing thus with 
individuals. Mark speaks again and again of 
Jesus "touching" some needy one, or "laying 
his hand upon him." It was as though Jesus 
felt a necessity of making his love palpable and 
visible, and as though he would set an example 
to his followers of closeness of contact and sym- 
pathy. It is a remarkable fact that the only 
infallible teacher and philosopher the world has 
ever had was greater as a philanthropist than 
as a philosopher. The practice of Jesus put 
love of men above love of the truth, even. 
Thus he illustrated the supreme importance 
of the personal touch. 

A few years ago the author was on a train 
in Michigan when he noticed an old man in 
a faded blue uniform in the seat opposite, evi- 
dently a little under the influence of liquor. 
We felt that we ought to speak a word to him 
about his soul, but hesitated lest he might be 
too much in liquor to appreciate it. Just then 
a bright-faced girl, with an Epworth League 
badge on her breast, stepped down the aisle, and, 
167 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

bending over, whispered a few words in the 
old man's ear. And the man in the faded uni- 
form replied loud enough for all around him 
to hear, although in entirely respectful tones: 
"That 's so, Miss. I am not a soldier for 
Christ; but my old mother was, and she used 
to pray for me many a time." 

That young girl's words may not have done 
the old soldier any permanent good. We never 
saw either him or the maid again. But they 
taught a lesson of fidelity to a Methodist 
preacher that he will never forget, and which 
he took occasion to acknowledge to the young 
Epworthian before she left the train. If all 
preachers and other professed followers of 
Christ were as intent on "the King's business" 
as that young girl, how rapidly the world would 
be brought to Christ! 

Shortly after this incident we were being 
entertained in an Indiana city where an Ep- 
worth League Convention was in progress, at 
which we were one of the speakers. Our host- 
ess was a Christian woman, but her husband 
168 



The Personal Touch. 

was not a member of the Church. We took 
occasion to speak with him on the way home 
from the night address at the Convention. He 
manifested a respectful interest, but no particu- 
lar feeling. On reaching the residence, after 
a half-hour of pleasant social intercourse, we 
proposed prayer before retiring. And in prayer 
we remembered especially this gentleman. 
When we arose he was weeping, and in a few 
minutes more of prayer and words of personal 
encouragement and instruction was happily 
converted. What the service at the Church 
had failed to accomplish, the personal touch had 
done. 

Still another incident of our personal ex- 
perience will serve to emphasize the impor- 
tance of the personal touch. While yet a stu- 
dent in college we were spending a Christmas 
vacation in an Indiana village. A cousin — a 
young lawyer — was spending the holidays in 
the same place. We were invited to preach 
at the Sunday-evening hour, and did so, but 
without any manifest results. On the way home 
169 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

after the service we pressed the matter of im- 
mediate decision for Christ on this cousin. He 
showed interest, and then deep feeling. So 
we turned back to the then deserted church, se- 
cured the key, went in, and prayed the matter 
through. He was happily converted, and as a 
result a revival immediately broke out in the 
village, resulting in twenty-five conversions. 
Seven were converted as we held a private meet- 
ing in the residence of one of the young people, 
as a result of personal effort on their friends 
by those who had been converted. Out of the 
twenty-five conversions, three young men are 
now in the ministry doing most successful work, 
one of them being the lawyer cousin above re- 
ferred to. 

A Chicago wholesale merchant, who has in- 
vestigated the matter, is quoted by Dr. Joseph 
F. Berry as saying that eighty-five per cent of 
the goods sold by wholesale dealers in the 
United States is sold through the work of trav- 
eling salesmen — the personal touch, if you 
please. Ninety-eight per cent of the immense 
170 



The Personal Touch. 

membership of the lodges of the country has 
been obtained in the same way. 

Dr. Henry Clay Trumbull, in "Individual 
Work for Individuals," tells of a young Chris- 
tian soldier who made a habit of visiting the 
Young Men's Christian Associations wherever 
his command was stationed, and arousing the 
young men of the Association to the importance 
of personal work. He says : 

"Going into such a prayer-meeting early in 
the evening, at one time, he asked the leaders 
how many young men had been sought out from 
the highways and byways that evening. On 
being told that nothing of the sort had been 
done, he asked that all should kneel at once in 
prayer, offering an ejaculation of consecration 
to this service, and then that all should scatter 
to the street-corners and drinking-places and 
gambling-houses, and urging them to come in 
where they could be helped. Fifteen minutes 
or more later they were to return to the Asso- 
ciation rooms, and then they might have a hope- 
ful prayer-meeting there. The first experiment 
171 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

was an eminent success, and its every repetition 
seemed an improvement on this. More of those 
for whom they had hoped and prayed were gath- 
ered in, in a single evening, under this plan of 
work, than under the old plan, or the no plan, 
in any one year before." 

This plan is workable not only in Young 
Men's Christian Associations, but in Churches. 
And not only in large cities, but in towns. 
Hugh Price Hughes used the same method to 
reach the young men of the town of Oxford 
when he was pastor of the Wesleyan Chapel 
there. He "would meet the young men in the 
vestry at the close of the morning service. Fifty 
or, sixty of them would assemble. It was then 
announced that Mr. Hughes was going to speak 
especially to young men that night, and every 
one of them was instructed to prowl about the 
streets of Oxford until he captured another 
young man who was not going to any place of 
worship. He was to march this young man into 
the chapel, sit between his prisoner and the 
end of the pew, and look over the same hymn- 
172 



The Personal Touch. 

book. He was gently to prevent the captured 
one from escaping at the end of the first serv- 
ice, and as soon as the second service began he 
was to invite him to go into the inquiry-room. 
Again and again these young men came in with 
radiant smiles, leading their bashful captives 
with them ; and sometimes, as soon as the after- 
meeting began, as many as a dozen young fel- 
lows would be seen leading their comrades into 
the inquiry-room." (J. Gregory Mantle's "Life 
of Hugh Price Hughes," pp. 63, 64.) 

Is not all this in exact harmony with the 
instructions of Jesus to "go out in the high- 
ways and hedges and compel them to come in V 9 
It is our solemn conviction that the Church is 
losing immeasurably to-day by timidity and 
ultra conservatism. The fear of being criticised 
or laughed at, of doing unconventional things, 
acts like a paralysis on hundreds of Churches. 
At no one point have we diverged more widely 
from early Methodism and from primitive 
Christianity. When one really stops to think 
of it, nothing is more astonishing than the per- 
173 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

functoriness and pointlessness of much of our 
religious service to-day. Christians, and even 
ministers, go for weeks and months without 
personally addressing an unsaved person about 
his soul, and whole Churches go on for months, 
and perhaps years, without setting on foot a 
single aggressive movement to reach unsaved 
people. There is a stated round of services of 
greater or less educational value, but without 
a single original departure to compel the atten- 
tion of the careless, or to indicate that any one 
in the Church is giving any downright hard 
thinking and planning to reach the lost sons 
of God. 

How different it was with the early Church ! 
The description given by Bulwer-Lytton, in 
the "Last Days of Pompeii," of the zeal of 
Olinthus the Nazarene, as he addresses Apaeci- 
des on the public street, and in low but passion- 
ate tones, pours in upon the Greek the story of 
the Christ, and thus wins him to the Christian 
faith, is no fancy pictuia merely, but a true 
representation of the spirit and methods of early 
174 



The Personal Touch. 

Christians everywhere, whose tongues had been 
tipped with pentecostal fire. The victories of 
the early Church were largely the victories of 
the personal touch, as the Christians went every- 
where preaching the Word. 

It is a conviction with us, that has grown 
with the years, that the non-aggressiveness of so 
many Churches accounts for the dearth of men 
in those Churches. But wherever something 
tangible and aggressive is put into the hands of 
the men to do — such, for example, as the per- 
sonal work campaigns of the Young Men's 
Christian Association soldier and that of Mr. 
Hughes — men will rally to the Church and its 
work as largely as will women anywhere. 

The preacher is apt to feel that his work is 
to be done in the pulpit only, and hence to neg- 
lect the personal touch. He could scarcely 
make a greater mistake. The effect of many a 
passionate pulpit appeal is entirely dissipated 
on hearts that had been touched during the 
service by the failure of the preacher to mani- 
fest the slightest concern about the salvation of 
175 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

the aroused persons when he meets them, per- 
haps immediately afterwards. This has been 
testified to by many. It gives the impression 
that the preacher's interest in them is purely 
professional, and therefore insincere. The 
writer has seen many persons brought to Christ 
in public services, but he can testify that, of 
about twenty-five hundred professed conver- 
sions under his ministry, the great majority of 
those who have stood the test in after years, 
have been those with whom he had first dealt 
personally. "Hand-picked fruit is the best." 
Dr. Henry Clay Trumbull gives the most 
remarkable testimony to the value of the per- 
sonal touch that we have ever seen: "For ten 
years (in the Sunday-school missionary field) 
I addressed gatherings of persons from ten or 
fifteen to iive or six thousand each. In this 
work I went from Maine to California and 
from Minnesota to Florida. This gave me an 
opportunity to test the relative value of speeches 
to gathered assemblies. Later, for more than 
twenty-five years I have been the editor of a 
176 



The Personal Touch. 

religious periodical that has had a circulation 
of more than a hundred thousand a week during 
much of the time. Meanwhile I have published 
more than thirty different volumes. Yet, look- 
ing back upon my work in all these years, I can 
see more direct results of good through my in- 
dividual work with individuals, than I can 
know of through all my spoken words to thou- 
sands upon thousands of persons in religious 
assemblies, or all my written words on the 
pages of periodicals and of books. And in this 
I do not think that my experience has been 
wholly unlike that of many others who have had 
large experience in both spheres of influence." 
In harmony with this are these words from 
the late Dr. J. 0. Peck, that princely Methodist 
pastor who saw about three hundred souls con- 
verted annually under his ministry: "If it 
were revealed to me from heaven that God had 
given me ten more years of life, and that, as a 
condition of my eternal salvation, I must win 
a thousand souls to Christ in that time, and 
if it were further conditioned that I might 
12 177 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

preach every day for the ten years, but that 
I might not personally appeal to the unsaved 
outside the pulpit, or, that I might not enter 
the pulpit during those ten years, but might 
exclusively appeal to individuals, I would not 
hesitate one moment to choose personal effort 
as the sole means to be used in the conversion 
of the one thousand souls necessary to my own 
salvation." 

Uncle John Vassar, the Baptist colporteur, 
loved to call himself "God's greyhound after 
souls." And as a result of this simple-hearted, 
fervent, loving disciple's quest for souls, liter- 
ally thousands were brought into the kingdom. 

After all, the secret of successful soul-win- 
ning is the value of the individual soul. Henry 
Drummond tells of an American medical stu- 
dent who was taking post-graduate medical 
work in the University of Edinburgh some years 
ago. He became exceedingly anxious for the 
conversion of a fellow-student, who was a skep- 
tic. "I packed my trunks to go home," said 
the student, afterward, "and I thought of this 
178 



The Personal Touch. 

friend, and wondered whether a year of my life 
would be better spent to go and start in my 
profession in America, or to stay in Edinburgh, 
and try to win that one man for Christ, and I 
staid." A few months later, at Easter, Mr. 
Drummond saw the two young men together 
at the communion service, and the skeptic was 
handing the sacramental cup to his American 
friend who had won him to Christ. And that 
converted skeptic came to Drummond and told 
him with shining face how he had given him- 
self to God for work as a medical missionary. 
Was it not worth a year of the medical student's 
life to win such a trophy? (Life of Henry 
Drummond, by George Adam Smith, pp. 
365-6.) 



179 



Chapter XVI. 

MUST THE PREACHER LOSE HIS SOUL- 
WINNING POWER WITH AGE? 

Why should a minister lose his soul-winning 
power as he grows older ? Nine out of ten do. 
Presiding elders tell us that it is the young 
men who have the revivals, and that the men in 
middle and later life, as a rule, are not suc- 
cessful soul-winners. The striking exceptions 
to this rule do not break its force. 

We have watched the career of gifted men 
in the ministry, who, during the first ten years 
of their ministerial career, were exceedingly 
zealous and successful in their evangelistic 
labors. Hundreds were brought into the Church 
through their ministry. But of late years they 
have grown unproductive and rarely see a soul 
converted under their labors. One of these 
brethren was asked recently if, in his present 
180 



Must Preacher Lose His Soul-Winning Power? 

great Church, with its wealth and large mem- 
bership and elaborate ritual, he was getting 
as much satisfaction out of his pastorate as 
when he was a young circuit-rider, with heart 
on fire with evangelistic zeal, and with hundreds 
of souls being converted under his ministry. 
The popular and, in all but soul-saving, success- 
ful pastor frankly replied, "No. I was happier 
then." 

Doubtless every reader knows of many sim- 
ilar cases. An investigation of the sources of 
increase of such Churches will show that they 
are three, — the Sunday-school, revival services 
conducted by professional evangelists, and let- 
ters from less pretentious Churches in the coun- 
try and towns round about. Cut off this last 
source of supply alone, and how quickly our 
city Churches would go down! While such 
Churches are able to make a good showing in 
the statistical tables, yet these statistics do not 
rightly gauge the vital force of the Church. 
That can be shown only by the number of per* 
sons brought to Christ by the labors of the pas- 
181 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

tor himself and his people. And are we astray 
in saying that there are five thousand Churches 
in Methodism which do not see ten people a 
year brought to Christ through the effort of 
the congregation and pastor alone? 

Of course, five thousand Churches in which 
not ten persons a year are converted except 
through the efforts of professional evangelists 
means that a great many Churches besides large 
city Churches are non-aggressive in soul-win- 
ning. And the vast majority of these will 
be found, on investigation, to be served by men 
in middle life or past middle life. Hence we 
repeat the question, Is it necessary that soul- 
winning power should wane in us as we grow 
older ? 

It is undeniable that the emotions cool with 
age. The mind becomes more meditative and 
speech more didactic. Orderliness, proportion, 
and the power of analysis are more fully de- 
veloped, while the sympathies are less sponta- 
neous, the feelings respond less readily either to 
outward or inward excitations, and the horta- 
182 



Must Preacher Lose His Soul-Winning Power? 

tory impulse is less easily provoked. All this 
tends to produce a teaching rather than an 
evangelistic ministry. The same law operating 
in other spheres of life has given rise to the 
proverb, "Old men for counsel, young men 
for war." 

It is also true that in the larger Churches 
the responsibilities of the pastor have greatly 
increased in the past thirty years. The num- 
ber of philanthropic and benevolent organiza- 
tions to which he must give attention and di- 
rection, the variety of public addresses which 
he is called upon to make, the heavy demands 
which social relations make on his time and 
strength, and, perhaps greatest of all, the pres- 
sure of the great financial burdens of his 
Church, all taken together, make such an im- 
perative and constant drain upon his thought 
and energies, that the winning of souls drops 
to a secondary place as far as his personal ef- 
forts are concerned. He becomes more and 
more the executive secretary of a great organi- 
zation, and the especial work to which he was 
183 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

originally called and ordained — that of win- 
ning men to God and building them up in the 
Divine life — he has to secure other men to do 
for him. 

A very defective statement of the case 
would have been made, however, did we not 
take into consideration still another factor, — 
the loss of vitality in the preacher's own re- 
ligious experience. Through the oft repeti- 
tion of the sacred Name, and through the con- 
stant handling of sacred things, they have lost 
their power over him. He has forgotten that 
living a Christian is the finest of the fine arts, 
requiring unaffected attention and constant ef- 
fort to keep in vital touch with the Source of 
life and power. 

The persisting tendency of the Christian 
Church in all ages has been to revert to the old 
Jewish type, the religion of forms and cere- 
monies. It is the law of inertia, operative in 
the realm of spiritual things. Only the con- 
stant inflow of new life from the great Life- 
giver can lift us above it and maintain in us 
184 



Must Preacher Lose His Soul-Winning Power? 

the religion of the spirit — the reign of God 
in the moral nature and affections. 

The preacher is not exempt from the opera- 
tion of this law of inertia. To do things in the 
easiest way ; to be satisfied with the forms rather 
than with the substance of things; to rely on 
an old experience instead of on a present vital 
union with Christ, — these are some of the 
temptations of the minister that cause his soul- 
winning power gradually to die within him. 
As Dr. Henry Burton, the eminent English ex- 
positor, says: "Preaching to others the gos- 
pel of rest and peace, he himself knows little 
of its experience and blessedness, — like the 
camel of the desert which carries to others its 
treasures of corn and sweet spices, and itself 
feeds on the bitter and prickly herbs." The 
manna of the Israelites had to be fresh 
each day. So with the minister also. It was 
President Charles G. Pinney, who, in his Au- 
tobiography, declared that every preacher 
needed reconverting every two weeks. Of 
course, this was hyperbole. But by it he im- 
185 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

pressed the truth that every minister needs 
frequent meltings down before God — those new 
and repeated anointings of the Holy Spirit 
which bring to him a renewed vision of Christ 
and an abiding sense of the immanence of God 
in his life and ministry. For "where there 
is no vision, the people perish." 

We profoundly believe that the battle for 
souls is lost or won in the preacher's own heart, 
as far as his congregation is concerned. If he 
goes into his preaching service baffled and de- 
feated in his own experience, he has little heart 
to call men to repentance and holiness. The 
note of compelling power is absent. He speaks 
as the scribes, and not as one having authority. 

From this spiritual weakness and poverty 
often grows his absorption in other things. He 
is busy about a thousand trifles; he is "serv- 
ing tables" instead of being absorbed in the 
ministry of the Word, to which he was called; 
he is perspiring under a hundred self-imposed 
burdens, but not one of them is the burden for 
souls which made the prophet weep for his peo- 
186 



Must Preacher Lose His Soul-Winning Power? 

pie, and sent our Lord to the bloody sweat of 
Gethsemane. a The life that is always busy, 
in a constant swirl of petty duties, flying here 
and there like the stormy petrel over the un- 
resting waves, will soon weary, or wear itself 
out, or it will grow into an automaton, a life 
without a soul." Of all men, preachers most 
need to heed the message of that familiar hymn : 

"Take time to be holy; 
The world rushes on; 
Spend much time in secret 
With Jesus alone. 

Take time to be holy, 
Speak oft with thy Lord ; 

Abide in him always. 
And feed on his word. 

Take time to be holy, 

Be calm in thy soul, 
Each thought and each motive 

Beneath his control. " 

It would be a pathetic thing, indeed, if any 
minister who had succeeded in drawing the 
people by judicious advertising, and attractive 
pulpit themes, and a genial sociability, and 
a warm-hearted sympathy, should find, when 
187 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

the multitudes came, that he had no saving 
message for them. The friends had come to 
him in their journey, and he had nothing to 
set before them. It would be as if the light- 
house keeper, amid the gathering gloom and 
storm and the peril of driving ships, should 
laboriously climb the long flights of stairs lead- 
ing to the signal tower, bearing the burnished 
lamp in his arms, only to find, when he reached 
the top, that his lamp had gone out. He had 
thought of everything but the oil! And the 
ships dash by in the falling night to the break- 
ers and death. "If the light that is in thee be 
darkness, how great is that darkness!" 

We have seen this happen more than once — 
this tragedy of the Christian ministry. We 
have seen a young minister start out with high 
ideals of service and a passionate enthusiasm 
for souls, and with the anointing oil of his 
consecration fresh upon him ; and people bowed 
under his appeals like standing grain before 
the wind. Popularity came, and hands beck- 
oned him up — higher and still higher. Con- 
188 



Must Preacher Lose His Soul-Winning Power? 

scions of a message, and believing that the world 
in darkness needed the blaze of his torch, he 
has gazed still further np the heights, and said 
to himself: "O, how much further my light 
would shine if I but occupied yon point of 
vantage !" So he has set himself to win it. He 
has planned and worked, and set his friends to 
work for him, toiling upward through the years, 
until the coveted place of honor was his — when, 
lo ! he discovers that his light has gone out ! He 
has reached the ear of his generation, but he 
has no message. His compromises and spiritual 
defeats have made him dumb. He is but a 
cumberer of that high and holy ground. 

Many a man has given up his selfish life- 
ambition to enter the ministry, and rejoiced in 
the thought that it was dead, only to have a 
presence meet him in the midst of that min- 
istry which wrung from him the cry of Ahab 
at the threshold of ISTaboth's vineyard, "Hast 
thou found me, O mine enemy!" 

We advocate neither quietism nor mysti- 
cism. There is such a thing as sanctified am- 
189 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

bition — the ambition to be our best and do our 
best for God and the world. We are to express, 
not suppress, our potential selves. And preach- 
ing is personalized truth. But that personality 
must be constantly irradiated by the unselfish- 
ness and purity of Jesus. Our overhanging 
and often overwhelming peril as preachers is 
in losing that sensitiveness of soul, that fine 
honor, that singleness of purpose, which alone 
can make our messages real, and penetrating, 
and of compelling power to men. 



190 



Chapter XVII. 

THE RE-ENFORCEMENT OF PERSONALITY 

THROUGH COMPANIONSHIP OF BOOKS 

AND MEN. 

Personality is the chief factor in the prob- 
lem of success. It was the personality of Philip 
Henry Sheridan that turned defeat into vic- 
tory at Cedar Creek. It was the personality 
of Napoleon that enabled him to get ten times as 
much out of a soldier as an ordinary commander 
could. It was the personality of John Paul 
Jones that gave him alike the passionate devo- 
tion of his men in the forecastle and a welcome 
entree into the circle of nobility at the French 
court. So it is personality that gives the great- 
est success in the work of the ministry. 

It goes without saying that ordinary men 
do not possess extraordinary personality. But 
there is such a thing as the re-enforcement of 
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The Sunday-Night Service. 

personality. And that is the hope of the ex- 
tension of the kingdom of God. It was Mr. 
Lincoln who said that God must like common 
folks, or he would not have made so many of 
them. If the progress of the kingdom must 
wait on the coming of great men, our cause is 
doomed. But it does not so wait. Its progress 
depends, as William Arthur has pointed out 
so vividly in "The Tongue of Fire/' on endow- 
ing ordinary men with extraordinary power. 
All Christians believe this, unless they have 
been made pessimistic and Atheistic by disap- 
pointment or disobedience. And there is a vast 
deal of practical Atheism among professed fol- 
lowers of Christ. But all believers in this re- 
enforcement of personality do not appreciate 
that much of it comes through purely human 
sources. 

God is a great economist. He does not do 
for men what they can do for themselves. He 
appeared in a vision to Saul of Tarsus, but he 
sent him to a Damascus disciple to learn the 
full text of his message. He appeared to Cor- 
192 



The Re-enforcement of Personality. 

nelius in a supernatural manner, yet he sent 
him to Peter to get the real significance of his 
gracious visitation. So are the Divine and 
human elements blended in all revelations and 
in all preparation for Divine service. 

The preacher's personality is re-enforced in 
three ways : 

First. By the companionship of books. No 
mind can stagnate that keeps in constant con- 
tact with the freshest and best books. It may 
not be possible for us to be mentally profound 
or brilliant. Indeed, it is certain that we "av- 
erage preachers" will be neither. But we may 
be mentally alert, and we are inexcusable if 
we are not. It was an angel that came down 
and stirred the pool of Bethesda to healing vir- 
tue, according to an interpolation in John's 
Gospel. Be that as it may, the stagnant pool 
of many a ministerial mind has been stirred 
to healing virtue by the angel touch of a new 
and virile book. 

The author has been in some preachers' 
libraries which were not, indeed, the "abomi- 
13 193 



The Sunday-Night Service, 

nation of desolation" spoken of by Daniel the 
prophet, bnt whose dreariness might well tempt 
the title. Not a single fresh, vitalizing book 
was on its shelves. And yet those preachers 
could not understand the toboggan trend of their 
appointments ! The growing preacher well un- 
derstands that the pollen from the bloom of 
other minds is necessary to the fructifying of 
his own. 

Artists tell us that their constant work 
among mixed colors begets color blindness. So 
they find it necessary to lay aside their work 
for awhile, and "wash out their eyes with pure 
colors." They take the seven original colors 
and gaze on them until the distinctions in color 
become clear again. It is even so with the 
preacher. He, too, must lay aside his paint- 
mixing and the laying-on process for awhile 
each week, that he may wash out his vision 
with perfect colors, by the study of the Word, 
and of the interpretation of the Word by men 
who have been divinely aided in applying it 
to the conditions of human life. Whether Ten- 
194 



The Re-enforcement of Personality. 

nyson and Browning, or George Matheson and 
J. H. Jowett and W. L. Watkinson and George 
Adam Smith and Henry Drummond, they are 
the illuminators of God's Book to him. And 
he arises from their association rejoicing like 
a strong man to run a race. 

If he can read but little secular matter he 
should read what the young people are reading. 
He must not allow them to get ahead of him, 
else his influence vanishes. 

Second. A preacher's personality is re-en- 
forced by the cultivation of broad and generous 
sympathies. A narrow-hearted preacher is a 
foreordained failure. "My boy," said Bishop 
Joyce to the writer when he was entering the 
ministry, "more preachers fail through lack 
of heart than lack of head." We have watched 
for facts to support that statement since then, 
and have been deluged with them. 

That which is commonly called magnetism 

is chiefly sympathy. A man of sympathetic 

nature, although not profoundly spiritual, will 

reach people more effectively than a profoundly 

195 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

spiritual man who does not appear to be sym- 
pathetic. 

Two classes of people are reached by the 
sympathetic preacher, — the people who like 
some attention, and the people who have bur- 
dens and heartaches. And as all other people 
are in the cemetery, we see our calling, brethren. 
The greatest element in the personal popularity 
of Jesus was his sympathy. "The common 
people heard Jesus gladly," because he felt 
for them. He, too, had suffered from poverty 
and social ostracism, and from unsatisfied long- 
ings for elevating and refining associations. 
And the preacher, who, like Jesus, has come 
up from such conditions, has the advantage 
over his brothers who have been reared in 
homes of comfort, unless, indeed, he has 
brought up with him the antipathies of pov- 
erty, as well as its sympathies. For the most 
subtle and powerful sympathies are mem- 
ories. Strong feeling, however, does not 
always mean breadth of sympathy. Some men's 
antipathies are in exact ratio to their sym- 
196 



The Re-enforcement of Personality. 

pathies. And it is better for a preacher that 
a millstone were hanged about his neck than 
that he should wear his antipathies on his coat- 
sleeve. If so, he is a Pandora's box in trousers. 
He certainly belongs to the Peripatetic School 
of the itinerancy, and the sound of nailing 
boxes is ever heard in his land. 

Hence the necessity of cultivating breadth 
of sympathy. No, not for this reason; but be- 
cause he is called to minister to the uncongenial 
and the repulsive as well as to the congenial; 
because he is to let fall his loving ministries, 
like the rain, npon the just and the unjust, on 
the lovable and the unlovable, — because of this 
he is to cultivate a sympathy as broad as hu- 
man needs. He is to be interested in young and 
old; in learned and unlearned; in the man 
of the street and the woman in the reception- 
hall ; in the student and in the factory operative. 
He must have as hearty a sympathy for the con- 
verts who were brought in under his predecessor 
as for those who are won by his own ministry, 
else he is only a stepmother preacher. God pity 
197 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

the preacher whose heart is not big enough to 
take in all his flock; for where his heartstrings 
stop his ministry stops! 

Hugh Price Hughes was a rare illustration 
of wide sympathies. Not that he did not have 
some antipathies, too; but his heart took in all 
sorts and conditions of men. Probably no man 
since Lord Shaftesbury was in touch with so 
many men of widely-different grades in English 
society. Hence it was that he saw converted, 
in his St. James Hall services, cabmen and cos- 
termongers, merchants and members of Parlia- 
ment; and hence it was, also, that, at the time 
of his death, Mr. Hughes was the best-known 
man to the men on the street of any minister in 
all England. 

Henry Drummond was another illustrious 
example of breadth of sympathy. He was at 
home among the workingmen of Possilpark, to 
whom he preached the addresses which after- 
ward composed "Natural Law in the Spiritual 
World," and he was equally in touch with Lord 
and Lady Aberdeen and Premier Gladstone. 
198 



The Re-enforcement of Personality. 

He loved Marcus Do-ds and George Adam Smith, 
higher critics and progressive scientific think- 
ers; yet he was passionately devoted to D. L. 
Moody, conservative Biblical student, and he 
called him "the biggest human he had ever met." 
His heart went out to the street boys of Glas- 
gow and Edinburgh, yet yearned also over the 
lives spent in luxurious idleness in the man- 
sions of West London. And because he was in 
sympathy with all, he was equally welcomed 
by all, and was a blessing to all. 

We know a preacher in Michigan sixty years 
of age, not a college graduate, and not possess- 
ing all the qualities supposed to be necessary 
to the highest success in the ministry; yet he 
has been in demand steadily for thirty years 
by the best charges in the Conference, and re- 
peatedly by Churches that he has already served. 
The secret of it is not his eloquence, although 
he is sometimes eloquent, but his remarkable 
breadth of sympathy. It is as wide as the cities 
in which he labored. 

While such breadth of sympathy is in part 
199 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

a gift of nature, yet it can be cultivated, and, 
next to the grace of God, is the greatest factor 
in a minister's success. Its importance will 
appear when we remember that God held back 
his campaign for the conquest of the whole 
world, although he had a most heroic band of 
apostles, until he had secured a man of cosmo- 
politan, yea, of world-wide, sympathies to lead 
that campaign, in Paul, the citizen of many 
lands. 



200 



Chapter XVIII. 

RE-ENFORCEMENT OF PERSONALITY 
THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

A preacher's personality may be re-en- 
forced most of all by the power of the Holy 
Spirit. For soul-winning this is indispensable. 
It is that quiet and, to men, undiscernible but 
pervasive influence which gives effectiveness to 
the preacher's message, and which brings his 
very looks and acts into harmony with his words, 
and makes them all persuasive to a degree ut- 
terly impossible without that unction. The 
same sermon may be preached by the same man 
under as favorable conditions as regards all else, 
yet if he is without the aid of the Spirit — as 
many a preacher has found himself, because of 
disobedience — it will be entirely powerless. 
The writer has tested this more than once, and 
has seen it tested in the work of brother 

ministers. 

201 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

So much has been spoken and written about 
being filled with the Holy Spirit, and it is so 
constantly in even the most perfunctory prayers 
of Christian people, that the phrase has become 
distasteful to some, and has lost its significance 
to many more. Unquestionably the words, as 
commonly used, have been emptied of their 
original content, and come dangerously near 
being cant. Nevertheless, given their Scrip- 
tural meaning, they still stand for the most 
precious and most mighty depositum of the 
Church of Christ. Brushing away the feeble 
copies of copies, and going back to the apostolic 
original, we find in the Book of Acts the filling 
of the Spirit as the all-sufficient preparation of 
the infant Church — infant in size as well as 
in age — for its conquest of the world. William 
Arthur's portrayal of the effect of the Spirit's 
re-enforcement of the disciples' ministry is none 
too strong: 

"On the day of Pentecost Christianity faced 
the world with a new religion, and a poor one, 
without a history, without a priesthood, with- 
202 



The Re-enforcement of Personality. 

out a college, without a people, and without a 
patron. She had only her two sacraments and 
her tongue of fire. The latter was her sole in- 
strument of aggression. All that was ancient 
and venerable rose up before her in solid oppo- 
sition. ~No passions of the mob, no theories of 
the learned, no interests of the politic favored 
her, nor did she flatter or conciliate one of them. 
With her tongue of fire she assailed every ex- 
isting system and every evil habit ; and by that 
tongue of fire she burned her way through in- 
numerable forms of opposition. In asking what 
was her power, we can find no other answer 
than this one: 'The tongue of fire.'" ("The 
Tongue of Fire," p. 98.) 

We have heard Bishop Thoburn speak a 
good many times, and do not recall having ever 
heard him when there was not an impression 
forced upon us that a Mightier One was speak- 
ing through him. As all know, he is a very 
quiet and unimpassioned speaker, and quite 
free from what we call the arts of the orator. 
Yet the effect which this quiet man's words 
203 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

have are out of all proportion to what one would 
antecedently expect, and have no other expla- 
nation than that he has the re-enforcement of 
the Divine Spirit. 

An entirely different type of man was the 
late Hugh Price Hughes — a man who, as far 
as his natural powers were concerned, was at 
his best in the leonine encounters of debate. 
Yet in his preaching there was the same re- 
enforcement of the Divine Spirit that we have 
spoken of in the case of Bishop Thoburn. We 
heard him repeatedly on Sunday nights in St. 
James Hall, in the heat of midsummer, and his 
sermons at the start were rather heavy, but 
ere long the glow of a heart in a passionate 
quest for souls suffused the entire discourse, 
and his closing appeals were irresistible, and 
long lines of young men and women came pour- 
ing over the platform into the inquiry-rooms 
which lay just behind. 

Mr. Hughes's friend, J. Gregory Mantle, 
who has published the only biography of him 
that has yet appeared, tells of an experience 
204 



The Re-enforcement of Personality. 

that came to Mr. Hughes in his second pastor- 
ate, at Brighton, during a Convention for the 
Promotion of Holiness, in 1875. He says: 
"Ministers from all parts of Great Britain and 
Europe were present, and not a few have been 
able, like Mr. Hughes, to mark the beginning 
of a life of absolute surrender to Jesus Christ 
from that Convention. . . . Up to that 
time there were certain objects of human am- 
bition which had come between him and the 
enjoyment of the fullest spiritual life; but 
during those memorable days, under the teach- 
ing of Mrs. Pearsall Smith and Pastor Theo- 
dore Monod, he made a full surrender, and saw 
that it was not only his duty, but his privilege, 
to yield all to God, and to take all from God. 
And with remarkable power and success Mr. 
Hughes has been enabled since that time to lead 
thousands of his fellow-believers into 'the full- 
ness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ.' " 
Charles G. Finney was the most remarkable 
preacher of his generation, as judged by the 
fruits of his ministry. It is not too much to 
205 



The Sunday-Night Service, 

say that both Presbyterianism and Congrega- 
tionalism owed more to his ministry than to 
any man in the nineteenth century in America. 
President Finney's ministry was constantly ac- 
companied by this power of the Spirit. And 
not only his ministry, but his personal inter- 
course with people, was alike marked by it. In 
the relation of his experience in private, or in 
the most casual remarks, persons were brought 
under profound conviction. The incident is 
familiar concerning his visit to a factory where 
many girls were employed, and his fastening 
his eyes on a girl who made a flippant and rude 
remark. The look contained both reproach and 
compassion, and the girl began to tremble, the 
thread of the loom snapped in her fingers and 
she began to weep, and in a few moments the 
room was converted into an altar, full of weep- 
ing, praying penitents. The secret of such 
power is suggested by a little sidelight from 
Mr. Finney's home, related to the writer by an 
old student of Oberlin who lived in President 
Finney's home. He said that it happened more 
206 



The Re-enforcement of Personality. 

than once during his stay in that home that Mr. 
Finney would be seized with uncontrollable 
weeping during a meal, and would excuse him- 
self from the table that he might go to his room 
and pour out his soul in behalf of his students. 
The way in which the Holy Spirit fell upon 
Mr. Finney immediately after his conversion, 
when he says that in his law office he felt "the 
Holy Spirit descend upon him in a manner that 
seemed to go through him, body and soul," is 
one of the most thrilling passages in all re- 
ligious biography. He says: "No words can 
express the wonderful love that was shed abroad 
in my heart. ... It seemed to come in 
waves and waves of liquid love. It seemed like 
the very breath of God. I wept aloud with joy 
and love." (Autobiography of Finney, p. 20.) 
Usually the power of God's Spirit does not 
manifest itself in such a sensible and apparent 
manner as this experience of Mr. Finney. 
Rather is it to be apprehended and relied on 
by faith, and no doubt Mr. Finney himself was 
often afterwards without anv sensible token 
207 



The Sunday-Night Service 

of the Spirit's presence. But the Spirit wrought 
just the same. 

It is no uncommon thing for a preacher, 
after the most earnest prayer, to have to go 
into the pulpit without any sense of the Spirit's 
presence, but, on the contrary, feeling a peculiar 
sense of heaviness ; but claiming the presence of 
the Comforter, he finds ere long that He is 
working mightily both in him and through him 
to the blessing of many. This we have discov- 
ered in our own experience, again and again. 
At the same time we confess ourself to be only 
a neophyte in the school of the Spirit. 

Dwight L. Moody's "Life," written by his 
son, William E. Moody, tells the story of the 
way in which that modern apostle was anointed 
for his life work. It was some sixteen years 
after his conversion, when he was in New York 
soliciting funds to rebuild his Chicago church, 
which had been burned in the great "Chicago 
fire." Mr. Moody relates his experience thus: 

"My heart was not in the work of begging. 



208 



The Re-enforcement of Personality. 

I could not appeal. I was crying all the time 
that God would fill me with his Spirit. Weil, 
one day — O what a day! — I can not describe 
it, I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred 
an experience to name. Paul had an experience 
of which he never spoke for fifteen years. I can 
only say that God revealed himself to me, and 
I had such an experience of his love that I had 
to ask him to stay his hand. I went to preaching 
again. The sermons were not different. I did 
not present any new truths, and yet hundreds 
were converted. I would not be placed back 
where I was before that blessed experience if 
you should give me all the world; it would be 
as the small dust of the balance." ("Life," 
p. 149.) 

J. Wilbur Chapman is recognized as one of 
the sanest of evangelists and one of the most suc- 
cessful soul-winners of this generation. Mr. 
Chapman speaks of an experience coming to him 
after having dedicated himself wholly to God: 
"Then, without any emotion I said, 'My Father, 

14 209 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

I now claim from thee the infilling of the Holy 
Ghost.' From that moment to this he has been 
a living reality." 

F. B. Meyer, of Christ Church, London, 
declares that his enduement of power came to 
him thus : "I felt no hand laid upon my head, 
there was no lambent flame, there was no rush- 
ing sound from heaven; but by faith, without 
emotion, without excitement, I took, and took 
for the first time, and I have kept on taking 
ever since." 

To the testimony of these eminent represent- 
atives of various Christian communions we add 
the testimony of a Methodist pastor in America, 
distinguished alike for his beautiful character 
and his phenomenal success in the winning and 
culture of souls. Dr. J. O. Peck — whose re- 
cent death was so great a loss, not only to the 
Missionary Society, but to the entire Church — 
tells the story of his Pentecost as follows : 

"While pastor in Springfield in 1872 a 
memorable incident in my experience occurred. 
I had never^ consciously, lost my zeal or de- 
210 



The Re-enforcement of Personality. 

votion to the gospel ministry nor the evidence 
of my assured salvation in Jesus Christ. God 
never left me a single year without a gracious 
revival, in which many souls were given as 
the seal of my ministry. Never had my pas- 
torate been more favored with the Divine bless- 
ing than at Springfield; but in the summer of 
1872 a deep heart-hunger that I had never 
known began to be realized. I hardly knew how 
to understand it. I had not lost spirituality 
as far as I could judge of my condition. I 
longed for — I scarcely knew what. I examined 
myself and prayed more earnestly, but the hun- 
ger of my soul grew more imperious; I was 
not plunged in darkness or conscious of condem- 
nation, yet the inward cravings increased. The 
result of these weeks of heart-throes was a grad- 
ual sinking of self, a consuming of all selfish 
ambitions and purposes, and a consciousness of 
utter emptiness. Then arose an unutterable 
longing to be filled. I waited upon the Lord 
and he delayed his coming. No matter how or 
by whom, but I had been prejudiced against 
211 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

the National Camp-meeting Association. I 
avoided their meetings ; but in the midst of my 
longings of sonl their meeting at Round Lake 
in 1872 occurred. I had not thought of attend- 
ing, but while the meeting was in progress a 
conviction was poured in upon me, as clear and 
unmistakable as my identity, that if I would 
go to that meeting and confess how I was hun- 
gering after more of salvation I would be filled. 
To my surprise, and a proof that my sincerity 
was genuine, I found no prejudice rising up, 
but a longing to go. 'I conferred not with flesh 
and blood, got excused from . officiating at an 
important wedding, and started the next day. 
"I arrived near evening, and as I had but 
that night and the next day before returning 
to my pulpit, I resolved to waste no time. At 
once I told the leaders of the meeting, my pur- 
pose and errand. I seemed to be near to Peniel, 
and my soul was impatient. After a sermon 
(by whom I forget, for men were eclipsed in 
my yearning to see c Jesus only'), I asked the 
privilege of saying a few words. Many old 
212 



The Re-enforcement of Personality. 

friends were present, but I felt no hesitation, 
so fully was I possessed by a desire to know 
'the length, breadth, depth, and height' of the 
love of God. I frankly told my errand there, 
and sought the prayers of all. I told them I 
wanted 'the fullness' that night, and felt it 
was the Divine will to give it that hour. I then 
descended to the altar and knelt with others 
before the Lord. I knew what I came for, be- 
lieved it the will of God to bestow it, and cast 
myself fully upon the promises of God. By 
simple trust I was enabled to take Christ as my 
sufficiency to fill and satisfy my hungry soul. 
The instant I thus received Christ as my 'wis- 
dom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemp- 
tion/ the stillness and emotionlessness of abso- 
lute quiet permeated my entire being. I came 
near being deceived, for I had anticipated being 
filled with boundless ecstasy and joy. My en- 
thusiastic and highly emotional temperament 
foretokened this, and I had already discounted 
such rapture. The tempter was by my side in- 
stantly and suggested seductively, 'All feeling 
213 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

has left you, the Spirit is withdrawn, and you 
are doomed to disappointment.' But quick as 
thought came my reply, 'With or without see- 
ing, I here and now take Christ as my all and 
in all!' I knew that moment he was my com- 
plete Savior! At once the most delicious ex- 
perience was mine that I could conceive! No 
joy, no rapture, but something sweeter, deeper 
than anything before known — 'the peace of God 
that passeth all understanding!' It settled 
upon me deeper and deeper, sweeter and sweeter, 
till I seemed 'filled with all the fullness of God.' 
I was ineffably satisfied. I could not shout or 
speak. Words would have been mockery of that 

peace I felt, 

1 That silent awe that dares not move.' 

"I continued in speechless wonder until the 
meeting closed, and was wrapped in adoration. 
The Spirit sealed these words on my heart, 
which have been ever since the sweetest verse 
in the Bible to me: 'Thou shalt keep him in 
perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, 
because he trusteth in thee.' My soul knew 
214 



The Re-enforcement of Personality. 

that peace, and was subdued and filled with it. 
I continued through the night in that silent 
bliss ; but the next morning at the stand I con- 
fessed the gracious work that Christ had 
wrought. As I testified my soul caught fire, 
and my words burned with love, and yet peace 
was the supreme consciousness. I returned 
home that day, and at the first opportunity de- 
clared to my own flock the fullness of Christ 
that had been bestowed. 

"And this experience I have never lost — 
not always clear and conspicuous, but ever a 
sacred deposition in my heart. Certain results 
have followed this experience, or attended it in 
my ministry: 

"1. My soul has been one with God. I have 
not had an ambition or plan or purpose that 
was not formed in the desire to glorify God. 
Not perfect, nor faultless, nor mistakenless, nor 
errorless, yet the whole purpose of my life has 
been to please him. 

"2. I have had a greater love for my work. 
I always loved it intensely, but it has seemed 
215 



The 'Sunday-Night Service. 

to possess me, the salvation of dying men has 
been a passion. I love the work with glowing 
affection. 

"3. Greater results have followed my min- 
istry. More souls have been converted each 
year — two or three times more. I have had 
power unknown before to persuade sinners to 
come to Christ. 

"4. My intellectual work was at once vastly 
stimulated. I have studied twice as much each 
year. My thought has been clearer and my 
love for patient thinking more ardent. 

"5. Perfect love has reigned in my soul. I 
have not slept a night since that camp-meeting 
with a bitter or vindictive or unchristian feel- 
ing against a human being. It is easy to love 
men. I have experienced my share of occasions 
for the exhibition of unsanctified human nature, 
but it does not spring up. I judge it is not 
there. 

"6. I have had an aversion to argument or 
controversy on the subject of Christian per- 
fection. I dare not speculate. I dare not mix 
216 



The Re-enforcement of Personality. 

my little human philosophy with the great Di- 
vine truth and the Divine experience. This 
instinctive shrinking from polemic or specu- 
lative methods of treating this subject has, per- 
haps, made me misunderstood by reason of my 
silence. Any movement which has seemed to 
isolate or differentiate holiness from the tra- 
ditional teachings of Christianity has not com- 
manded my convictions. I do not condemn 
others, but obey my own convictions. 

" 'My soul doth magnify the Lord' for this 
experience which has doubled my joys, and, if 
I may judge, doubled the effectiveness of my 
imperfect ministry." 



217 



Chapter XIX. 

DAVIDIO METHODISM VERSUS SOLOMONIC 
METHODISM. 

It has been happily said that "Methodism 
began in a conscience, an organization, and a 
rapture." It was well that it was first of all a 
conscience, else its rapture might have been un- 
ethical, irrational, and pitiable, and its organi- 
zation only a second order of Jesuits. But it 
began in a mighty conscience. Its conscience 
was a revolt against an immoral and selfish 
age. It was a protest, and more than a protest, 
against dilettante religion, against baptized 
worldliness, against a Eeformation that needed 
reforming, against a sacramentarian and mori- 
bund Church. 

Its conscience was the Puritan conscience, 
but with the Puritan skeleton clothed upon with 
the warm flesh and the radiant life of a healthy 
218 



Davidic Methodism vs. Solomonic Methodism. 

Christian manhood. It was the Puritan con- 
science shot through with the beauty and glory 
of an abounding spiritual life. Puritanism 
represented Sinai ; Methodism represented that, 
but it represented Pentecost also. Puritanism 
was negative; Methodism was positive. Puri- 
tanism represented what men must give up who 
obey God; Methodism represented that, but it 
represented also what men receive who follow 
Christ. Puritanism was iconclastic, destroying 
shams and corruptions; Methodism was con- 
structive, destroying evils by the expulsive 
power of new and holy affections. Methodism 
was, like Puritanism, a gigantic conscience, but 
it was also a rapture ! And its power over men 
lay in its being bank-full of a loving, comfort- 
ing, joyous life. 

Puritanism had its hymns, but they were 
set in minor key; as, for example, that noble 
penitential hymn of Isaac Watts : 

" Almighty God, thy piercing eye 

Strikes through the shades of night, 
And our most secret actions lie 
All open in thy sight ! 
219 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

There 's not a sin that we commit, 

Nor secret word we say, 
But in thy dreadful book 't is writ 

Against the judgment day. 

And must the crimes that I have done 

Be read and published there, 
Be all exposed before the sun, 

While men and angels hear? 
Lord, at thy feet ashamed I lie, 

Upward I dare not look ; 
Pardon my sins before I die, 

And blot them from thy book." 

Methodism had its songs in minor key also, 
but they never left the penitent pleading for 
pardon "before he died." That pardon was ex- 
pected in the immediate present. Its character- 
istic strain was one of triumph ; as, 

"'Tis a Heaven below my Kedeemer to know, 
And the angels can do nothing more 
Than to fall at his feet and the story repeat, 
And the Lover of sinners adore." 

But let us analyze a little more specifically : 
1. The mechanical characteristics of early 

Methodism were: 

(1) A minute organization into classes, and 

later into the various kinds of Conferences. 
220 



Davidic Methodism vs. Solomonic Methodism. 

(2) A monarchical government during 
Wesley's life — a benevolent dictatorship — and 
after his death an oligarchy, constituted of 
ministers. 

2. The doctrinal characteristics of early 
Methodism were: 

(1) A free salvation, or an unlimited atone- 
ment. 

(2) A felt salvation, or the witness of the 
Spirit to justification. 

(3) A full salvation, or love made perfect 
through faith in Christ. 

3. The vital characteristics— those express- 
ing early Methodism's inner life — were : 

(1) Simplicity of personal life and public 
worship. 

(2) The exercise of a strict discipline over 
ministers and members. 

(3) Self-sacrificing devotion to its ideals. 

(4) An aggressive propagandism. 

The influence of that first generation of 
Methodists is now generally recognized. The 
power with which it laid hold of the imbruted 
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The Sunday-Night Service. 

multitudes in Great Britain, the thousands 
whom it won to a new life, the social conscience 
which it evoked, the new moral fiber which it 
bred in the English yeomanry, the mighty mis- 
sionary impulse which it created, the new evan- 
gelical Church to which it gave rise, and the 
profound influence which it exerted on all the 
Churches, — all these are the familiar truths of 
history. They are recognized by Lecky and 
Green, the historians, and by any number of 
non-Methodist clergymen, such as the late Dr. 
Earrar. 

In America, also, the new interpretation of 
Christianity was immediately and powerfully 
successful. In 1776, Methodism had 4,921 
members; in 1786, 20,689; in 1796, 56,664; 
in 1806, 130,570; in 1816, 214,235; in 1826, 
360,800; and in 1836, 650,103. ~No Church 
had ever made such rapid strides, either in 
this country or Europe. It had been par- 
alleled only in the days of early Christianity. 

This success came because Methodism was 



222 



Davidic Methodism vs. Solomonic Methodism. 

an appeal, doctrinally, to the common sense 
of the people brought to bear on the interpre- 
tation of the Scriptures ; because it was a mes- 
sage big with hope for mankind, in holding out 
the highest attainments in holiness to all men; 
and because it was re-enforced to a remarkable 
degree by the moral miracles of transformed 
lives. Dr. James M. Buckley, in his "History 
of Methodism/' says : 

"The personal influence of the preachers, 
exerted through their testimony, example, con- 
versation, oratory, and discipline; the contact 
of the members in social life and in their al- 
most continuous meetings ; the hymns and pray- 
ers, and the reflex action of all upon each, 
and of each upon all; the power of truth rela- 
tive to the moral condition and needs of the 
hearer; and the tremendous concentrated ef- 
fect of fixed ideas as the work spread and as- 
semblies increased until they became vast open- 
air congresses; and under peculiarly favorable 
circumstances a new power was developed, re- 



223 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

sembling, in germs, the influence of smaller 
meetings, but so magnified as to seem almost 
a different force. 

"Beyond and above all this was the might 
of the Holy Spirit. Without his aid great re- 
sults might have followed, a powerful organ- 
ization have been formed, many reformations of 
outer life effected; but profound modifications 
of character, amazing developments of cour- 
age, and the almost ceaseless flow, through a 
long life, of religious joy approaching ecstasy, 
triumphing over the infirmities of the body, 
dissipating dejection, and often exhibited over- 
whelmingly when mere human elements would 
have been wholly ineffectual to sustain it; and 
the preservation and growth of the fruits of the 
Spirit, and their correspondence with the plain 
teachings of God's Word, — constitute proof of 
the Divine origin of the movement as conclu- 
sive as that furnished when holy men of old 
spake, not of themselves, but as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost." 

Where does Methodism stand to-day, as com- 
224 



Davidic Methodism vs. Solomonic Methodism. 

pared with this early type ? What early char- 
acteristics has it lost? What of them has it 
retained ? 

We recognize the difficulty of a just reply to 
these questions. There is a danger of one's 
prejudices, the bias of his education and en- 
vironment and temperament, dictating his reply. 
There is the danger of idealizing the past and 
undervaluing a prosaic and perhaps irritating 
present. 

We have lost the monarchical government, 
the domination of the ministry in that gov- 
ernment, and the closely-articulated class sys- 
tem. The mechanical characteristics of early 
Methodism are gone ; and we may count this, on 
the whole, a gain, except in the loss of the class- 
meeting, which is a serious loss. Other or- 
ganizations have sprung up in the Church, 
which turn their eyes outward toward service 
rather than inward toward experience. While 
these various societies are doing great good for 
the kingdom, yet they compare unfavorably at 
two points : they place service before character, 
15 225 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

— work ahead of experience, — which is an ab- 
normal and superficial method. And they reach 
only a part of the membership of the Church — 
less than one-half — while the early division of 
the entire membership into classes reached the 
entire membership. 

Of the doctrinal characteristics we may 
fairly be said to retain all. In some of our 
Churches there is a slurring over of the Meth- 
odist teaching as to full salvation, and a rather 
faint emphasis on the "felt" salvation. Yet 
all three — the free, the felt, and the full sal- 
vation — are in our standards. 

Of the vital characteristics enumerated 
above we have lost in simplicity of private life 
and public worship. We do not exercise dis- 
cipline in the sense of excluding unworthy 
members from our Churches. The writer 
has been a member of the Church since 
childhood, and never has known of a case 
where a member was excluded without his 
consent from Church membership. The near- 
est to it has been an occasional withdrawal, by 
226 



Davidic Methodism vs. Solomonic Methodism. 

request of the pastor, in cases of unusual fla- 
grancy. We mention this not as indicating 
serious delinquency on the part of pastors and 
people, but to indicate the extent to which the 
views of both preachers and people have 
changed on the subject of Church discipline. 
A pastor who has convictions regarding the im- 
propriety of allowing persons of defective life 
to remain in the Church does not urge those 
convictions, because he knows it would only stir 
up strife, and that some of his best people would 
not sustain the measures laid down in the Dis- 
cipline. As to the self-sacrificing devotion to 
our ideals, as compared with that of early Meth- 
odists, while much heroic devotion may be 
found, it can hardly be said to be general. 

It is at the point of an aggressive propa- 
gandism, however, that the most marked dis- 
parity exists, and to this point the argument 
of this book has been directed. Compared with 
some of our sister Churches we may claim to 
be an aggressive Church; and new forms of 
Church activity are being pushed with com- 
227 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

mendable enterprise; such as the building of 
hospitals, orphanages, and various other elee- 
mosynary institutions. The deaconess move- 
ment is a recent development, and our mission- 
ary movement represents a glorious develop- 
ment of aggressive Christianity. 

Yet in soul-winning, taken as a whole, there 
has been a very great decline. As compared 
with the open-air services and the daily preach- 
ing of many of our early Methodist preachers, 
our methods of to-day are dilettante indeed. 
The writer knows of so-called strong Churches 
which have gone an entire year without a single 
conversion or accession on probation; while 
there are hundreds, if not thousands, where 
they would die out in a few years if it were 
not for the gains that come by letter from 
Churches that are spiritually alive. 

Speaking broadly, Methodism to-day is Solo- 
monic. That of a hundred years ago was 
Davidic, both in simplicity and aggressiveness. 

A comparison of gains by decades during 
the first three decades of Methodism in America, 
228 



Davidic Methodism vs. Solomonic Methodism. 

with the gains of the last three decades, will 
substantiate the position. From 1776 to 1786 
our increase was over 300 per cent; from 1786 
to 1796 it was 180 per cent; from 1796 to 1806 
it was 132 per cent; from 1870 to 1880 the in- 
crease was 31 per cent; from 1880 to 1890, 
28 per cent; and from 1890 to 1900 it was 21 
per cent ; with a large part of the increase due 
to gains in the foreign mission fields. 

The editor of a leading Western daily said 
to the author a few months ago, "You Meth- 
odists have no excuse for existence as a sepa- 
rate Church any more; you have changed so 
completely." We replied, "You fail to note 
two facts: First, that the other Protestant 
Churches have accepted our teachings, even 
more largely than we have theirs; hence the 
change is by no means all with the Methodists. 
Second, you draw your conclusion from our 
most aristocratic Churches, with which your as- 
sociation and observation naturally fall. You 
forget that there are thousands of smaller 
Churches all over the land which preserve to a 
229 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

remarkable degree the traditions and spirit of 
early Methodism." The editor acknowledged 
the justice of our observations; yet at the same 
time we knew that Methodism has lost some of 
its distinct character. 

We do not indorse the closing sentences of 
the paragraph from the Rev. R. C. Nightin- 
gale, a rector of the Church of England, in a 
recent number of the Contemporary Review, 
yet there is something in it for Methodists to 
pray over : 

"To those to whom the passion and fire of 
unselfish love will always be precious, under 
whatever circumstances they may happen to be 
exhibited, these old Methodist saints and mar- 
tyrs are heroes of the highest type. Nearer 
than any order of Englishmen had ever done 
before they fulfilled the idea the New Testa- 
ment conveys of the Petrine and Pauline 
Church. Its virtues and its failings were man- 
ifested by them with equal luxuriance. They saw 
visions; they spoke with tongues as the Spirit 
gave them utterance; they counted all things 
230 



Davidic Methodism vs. Solomonic Methodism. 

dross except Christ's love; they were supersti- 
tious; they were self -confident ; they imagined 
that God held their creed, and theirs alone ; they 
thought that they had found the secret hidden 
from the ages, and would be able to reverse hu- 
manity's order and change the long-persistent 
ways of men. Fair, fond dreams of those souls 
that loved heaven more than earth ; it is always 
so; and, alas! the end of it has always been 
the same. Except here and there, the light has 
quickly passed away, and the old dimness has 
taken its place once more. But the hope in man 
and God survives amongst the few who still 
dwell in the light, and they are sure that, step 
by step, man is conquering himself, and discov- 
ering the God that lies hid somewhere in the 
hearts of all." 

A "God that lies hid somewhere in the 
hearts of all" is a drearily poor substitute for 
the Self -revealing Father God whom those early 
Methodists knew so intimately, and the "end 
of it" has by no means come yet, as we hope to 
show in the next chapter. 
231 



Chapter XX. 
THE RENAISSANCE OP METHODISM. 

Do we need a Renaissance of early Meth- 
odism ? 

If by this is meant a new birth of its forms 
of worship and exact methods of work, we reply, 
"No." The forms of any live organism must 
be regrown from age to age, even as a tree grows 
new rings and bark. Where the Spirit of life 
is present this adaptation to changing environ- 
ment will easily take place. 

If the question means a new birth of early 
Methodist phraseology, we reply, "No." Set 
phrases get shot through with the prejudices 
and misconceptions of party strifes, and so lose 
their usefulness. They also frequently become 
mere stock phrases, the vehicles of religious 
cant. Moreover, it would be strange if a gener- 
232 



The Renaissance of Methodism. 

ation of as searching Biblical criticism and as 
great scientific advance as ours should not be 
able to improve upon the nomenclature of re- 
ligious doctrine — to recast some of the old 
teachings in molds more in harmony with pres- 
ent-day thought. At any rate, there should be 
the utmost freedom to make the attempt, and 
the interpreting value of new scientific truth 
should be frankly and fully recognized. Hence, 
we say, there is no loss if the old nomencla- 
ture, and party shibboleths are replaced by a 
new terminology. 

But if by the "Kenaissance of Methodism' ' 
is meant a new birth of its simple, pure, fervent, 
self-sacrificing, and heroic spirit, we reply, 
"Yes! this is our supreme need." 

We do not need the shield and spear of Eich- 
ard Coeur de Lion. They are the weapons of a 
bygone age. But we do superlatively need his 
lion heart. As the young Methodism of the 
twentieth century takes up the mantle of the 
fathers, let it be with the petition of Elisha 
to Elijah: "Let a double portion of thy spirit, 
233 



The Sunday-Night Service 

I pray thee, be upon me." The result will be 
the pushing forward of our golden age into the 
twentieth century through the Eenaissance of 
Methodism. 

At this point some one will say: "Ah! 
but movements never repeat themselves. The 
hands on the clock always move onward." This 
objection sounds plausible, but it is not true 
to history. Is it not true that the High Church 
movement to-day is a renaissance of the Church 
of the fifth and sixth centuries ? Is not Koman 
Catholicism, in many respects, a reversion to 
the old Jewish type of worship, the appeal to 
the soul through the eye and ear, and the medi- 
atorship of a human priesthood? And is it 
not admitted by non-Methodists — as we have 
seen in Dr. Nightingale's characterization — as 
well as fully believed by ourselves, that early 
Methodism itself was simply a renaissance of 
apostolic Christianity? If so, then, why not 
again ? 

If we have studied history aright the 
progress of the kingdom in the world, both be- 
234 



The Renaissance of Methodism. 

fore and since Christ, has been by a series of 
cycles. These cycles have run about as fol- 
lows: 

1. A religious movement born in one or 
more great souls, through the vision of some 
new or long-neglected truth, grows rapidly, but 
with persecution. 

2. The movement grows to climax of power, 
persecution diminishes, and its forms crystal- 
lize into permanence. 

3. Because of the movement's social, po- 
litical, or financial importance, men join them- 
selves to it, imitating its forms and repeating 
its shibboleths, but without drinking in of its 
spirit. 

4. Then follows decline of essential strength, 
loss of prestige, and humilating criticism, both 
from within and without. 

5. Then, if there be a true and heroic "rem- 
nant," there follows a renaissance of the orig- 
inal principles and power of the movement, 
with wider sweep. 

Though the progress has been thus by cycles, 
235 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

and retarded at times by the declines referred 
to, yet, broadly speaking, the movement has been 
always onward and upward; for each cycle has 
been a wider one than the preceding, reaching 
a larger part of humanity, and lifting it to a 
higher average level than any preceding cycle. 
This has been the method of the evolution of 
the divine life among men; and we have no 
reason to think that the method will be changed, 
since in every realm evolution is "continuous, 
progressive change, according to fixed laws and 
by means of resident forces." 

The only question remaining, from the au- 
thor's standpoint, is: Have we the "resident 
forces" necessary to carry forward the evolu- 
tion in harmony with the fixed laws, the "ob- 
served order of facts," already noted? Or, 
stated differently, have we the factors in Meth- 
odism to bring about the renaissance of its es- 
sential life and power, which was a renewal and 
carrying out to their logical conclusion of the 
principles of the Protestant Reformation, which, 
in turn, was a rebirth of apostolic Christianity ? 
236 



The Renaissance of Methodism. 

We believe we have those factors — those resi- 
dent forces. 

We have, first, the doctrines of compelling 
power. Our fathers were happy in what the y did 
not say, as well as in what they said in our creed : 
as to Scriptural inspiration, for example. Those 
doctrines peculiar to Methodism — the free, felt, 
and full salvation tenets — being based largely 
upon the data furnished by consciousness, are 
supported by modern scientific and philosoph- 
ical methods of research and reasoning. They 
have stood, also, the most critical of all exami- 
nations, — the test of generations of experi- 
mental practice. They have the yet further seal 
that they have been adopted by almost all other 
bodies of Protestant Christians, in their sub- 
stance, and have borne like blessed fruit wher- 
ever faithfully presented. All of which goes to 
buttress our contention that they are founded 
in the revelation of God. 

Our paramount duty as Methodists is, there- 
fore, to re-emphasize these fundamental doc- 
trines. The way to make Methodists and to 
237 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

make Christians of the apostolic type is to preach 
these truths clearly, unctuously, and constantly, 
and to expect results from them all the time in 
the salvation of souls. And here is the bear- 
ing of this chapter on the general theme of this 
book. The constant preaching of these great 
hasal doctrines in the infinite variety of ways 
which the inspiring Spirit will suggest to alert 
and consecrated minds, expecting immediate 
results all the year round, will bring in the 
Renaissance of Methodism and the Christian 
Age of Gold. 

Methodism has a message, a distinctive mes- 
sage. If we are true to that message, we shall 
take the world. But we are not true to that 
message if we are not emphasizing it. It is 
where we put our emphasis that determines the 
character of our work. And a misplaced em- 
phasis is as fatal to the progress of the kingdom 
as the worst of heresies. The heartache of ear- 
nest men is, that so many of our number are en- 
gaged, as a distinguished bishop of our Church 
has said, in busily and painstakingly "polish- 
238 



The Renaissance of Methodism. 

ing their buttons;" never firing a shot; never 
bringing down a man; but industriously and 
laboriously "polishing their buttons!" Away 
with trifling, and let us attack a world of sin 
with our fundamental message, and the world is 
ours before the close of the century! 

The failure to emphasize the message of 
Methodism will devitalize our own people. The 
constant tendency in all ages of the Christian 
Church has been to drop back from the faith- 
life of the New Covenant to the legal, formal 
life of the Old Testament; that is, from the 
Christian to the Jewish type of religion. All 
movement inclines to the direction of least re- 
sistance, and formal, legal religion is so much 
easier than the high-pressure faith-life of Chris- 
tianity, that the Christian heart tends constantly 
to revert to it. Whole Churches drop back into 
it, and perhaps the majority of the members of 
the various Christian communions are in that 
condition to-day. Thus Judaism conquers the 
Cross ! 

It was the condition John Wesley himself 
239 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

was in up to that night in May, 1738, when he 
"felt his heart strangely warmed, and that he 
did trust Christ and Christ only for salvation." 
And there Methodism was born, and its message 
was born — that all men may be saved, fully 
saved, saved now, and know it by the glad wit- 
ness of God's own Spirit. But human nature is 
the same under a Methodist coat as under an 
Anglican or Lutheran, and the failure to em- 
phasize constantly and clearly the message of 
Methodism allows multitudes of our people to 
slip back into the old-time legalism, and very 
many of them to be lost to the Church alto- 
gether. 

Not only have we the necessary doctrines, 
but we have the consecrated "remnant." And 
it is a very large "remnant," too — such as king- 
doms are made of. The number of men and 
women who reproduce in their character to-day 
the essential spirit of early Christianity is very 
great — hundreds of thousands of them, if, in- 
deed, the number does not run up into the mil- 
lions. We have self-sacrificing and uncomplain- 
240 



The Renaissance of Methodism. 

ing ministers, who go out every year from Con- 
ference to taste new fruits of poverty and suf- 
fering, and who do it joyfully for Jesus' sake, 
and come back shouting at the next Conference 
over the hard-earned sheaves. We have heroic 
missionaries, who face loneliness and homesick- 
ness — every mountain is to them a "Heimweh 
Fluh" — sickness, persecution, and even death, 
without a murmur — the Charley Grays, and 
Gamewells, and Thoburns, and Taylors ; and in 
well-nigh all of them is the spirit of that mis- 
sionary of our sister Church, who, when about 
to be slain by the Boxers, sent word to his wife 
to raise up their baby boy in America to come 
back to China and take the place of the father 
on the very field where he was being sacrificed. 
We have the devout, self-denying, patient lay- 
men, who are pouring out their time and money 
like water in maintaining their local Churches 
throughout the land, often leading forlorn hopes, 
and the measure of whose devotion has never 
yet been understood. We have — and here we 
walk softly as on holy ground — an unnumbered 
16 241 



The Sunday-Night Service. 

company of "shut-in" saints, obscured and un- 
heralded in their hidden, yet puissant ministry, 
whose windows are ever open toward Jerusalem, 
and whose prayers rise like a fountain night and 
day, that God will behold and visit Zion. 

Do you think that God will let a Church 
die out that has such a host of shining ones as 
these ? ISTever while his promises abide ! 

The Son of God goes forth to war, 

A kingly crown to gain ; 
His blood-red banner streams afar. 

Who follows in his train? 

Who best can drink his cup of woe, 

And triumph over pain, 
Who patient bears his cross below — 

He follows in his train. 

A glorious band, the chosen few, 

On whom the spirit came : 
Twelve valiant saints, their hope they knew. 

And mocked the cross and flame. 

They climbed the dizzy steep to heaven 

Through peril, toil, and pain ; 
O God ! to us may grace be given 

To follow in their train ! — Heber 

Then, last, there is the unexpected Factor — 

unsuspected always by faithless men and 

worldly-wise men — God. 
242 



The Renaissance of Methodism. 

The great engines down in the heart of the 
Campania kept throbbing away while we slept 
on our way back from Europe not long ago. 
We went to our stateroom, weary and homesick, 
and unable to move the ship a hair's-breadth 
forward; but all through the night, while we 
slept, the great engines worked tirelessly on, 
and when we arose in the morning we were two 
hundred miles nearer home. God still works, 
and fulfills himself in many ways. New sur- 
prises of his power shall yet break forth. Our 
only business is to be doing his present will, 
that we may be in touch with Infinitude when 
he shall loose from the leash the lightnings of 
his power. 

In Central Southern France the waters of 
the Saone and Rhone meet. The Saone is a 
yellow stream, from the alluvial plains of Cen- 
tral France, somewhat like our Missouri. The 
Rhone sweeps down from the crystal Lake Ge- 
neva amid Alpine heights. And when the two 
streams unite, for many miles their currents do 
not blend; there is the yellow Saone and the 
243 



The Sunday-Night Service, 

crystal Rhone, both in the same channel. But 
at length the Rhone triumphs and flows clear 
and beautiful to the blue Mediterranean. 

Shall it not be even so with our Methodism ? 
With our universal Christian Church? There 
are two currents in the same channel, now, — 
the worldly, its color of the earth, earthy, — but 
also the stream of life, whose Source is high up 
among the Hills of God. Please God, it is this 
that shall triumph, and we shall flow on at 
length, a river pure as crystal, into the Ocean of 
Eternity. 



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